A Comparison Between Synchronous CDMA and

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access

Shital Ratilal Chheda

Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science
in
Electrical Engineering

Charles W. Bostian, Chair

Ira Jacobs
Dennis G. Sweeney

April 15, 2002

Blacksburg, Virginia

Keywords: CDMA, OFDM, synchronous, broadband, wireless, 3G, Non-Line-of-

Sight (NLOS), orthogonal, VOFDM, SCDMA

Copyright 2002, Shital Ratilal Chheda

 A Comparison Between Synchronous CDMA and Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access

Shital Ratilal Chheda

(ABSTRACT)

The growth of broadband Internet access has paved the way for the development of many new
technologies. As the cost of implementing broadband access soars, the best alternative will be to
use fixed wireless for these services. This thesis addresses the possibility of 3rd Generation (3G)
mobile cellular wireless systems as the basis for fixed broadband wireless service. Two of the
3G technologies aimed at providing fixed broadband wireless access are Time Division
Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) and Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM).

This thesis aims to provide a preliminary study on using TD-SCDMA and OFDM for broadband

wireless systems. Currently, there is not enough theory and information to establish the

feasibility of using either of these technologies for broadband wireless access. First, the basic

features and background on synchronous CDMA and OFDM are presented for the reader to

better understand these technologies. Then, an example TD-SCDMA system is described, and

some analytical and experimental results are presented. Finally, TD-SCDMAs technologies,

along with this systems attributes, are compared analytically to that of Vector OFDM

(VOFDM).

ii
Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Charles Bostian, for all his support during the
course of my research and thesis. His dedication to the improvement of the wireless
communications program at Virginia Tech was instrumental in my continued education. The
Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT) provided me with the resources and support
necessary to pursue my research and complete my thesis properly. The time spent and advice
lent by Dr. Ira Jacobs and Dr. Dennis Sweeney reviewing this thesis, helping with my research,
and participating as part of my thesis committee is very much appreciated. I would also like to
thank Tim Gallagher for his continued help and advice with my research. Also, the
administrative support from the other faculty and staff of CWT is appreciated.

I would also like to thank my sponsor, the Center for Innovate Technology (CIT) and especially
Jean Woods for spearheading and funding this project. I would also like to thank Navini
Networks and especially Phillip Levy and Walter Marusak for allowing me to use their system
and field trial data for my thesis. Without their Ripwave system details and experiment results,
this thesis would have not been possible. Finally, I would like to thank nTelos and especially
Steve Garber and Noel Munson for their support of this research and thesis.

It has been my pleasure to work with the Graduate Research Assistants in the CWT graduate
labs. Their technical advice and constant source of entertainment made coming to work a
pleasure on even the busiest of days. I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

iii
Finally, I would like to thank my family. My parents Ratilal and Rekha Chheda and my sister
Jeenal supported my decision to return to Virginia Tech for my Masters degree. Without their
continued support and encouragement I would not have had the resolve to complete this degree.

iv
Contents

1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 1

1.1 NEED FOR WIRELESS BROADBAND .................................................................................. 1

1.2 MARKET SITUATION......................................................................................................... 2
1.3 KEY FEATURE OF BROADBAND WIRELESS ....................................................................... 3
1.4 CHALLENGES OF FIXED BROADBAND WIRELESS .............................................................. 5
1.4.1 Attenuation .............................................................................................................. 5
1.4.2 Multipath ................................................................................................................. 6
1.4.3 Delay Spread ........................................................................................................... 7
1.4.4 K-Factor (Ricean factor)......................................................................................... 8
1.4.5 Spectral Efficiency................................................................................................... 8
1.4.6 Line of Sight Issues.................................................................................................. 9
1.5 MULTIPLE ACCESS TECHNIQUES .................................................................................... 10
1.5.1 Frequency Division Multiple Access..................................................................... 10
1.5.2 Time Division Multiple Access.............................................................................. 11
1.5.3 Code Division Multiple Access ............................................................................. 11
1.6 EMERGENCE OF 3G ........................................................................................................ 13
1.7 THIRD GENERATION (3G) SYSTEMS PROPOSALS........................................................... 14
1.8 CONTRIBUTIONS AND SCOPE .......................................................................................... 15

v
2 SYNCHRONOUS CDMA ................................................................................ 16
2.1 TD-SCDMA BASIC PRINCIPLES .................................................................................... 16
2.2 RF CHANNEL PARAMETERS ........................................................................................... 22
2.3 FRAME AND MULTIPLEXING STRUCTURE ....................................................................... 23
2.3.1 Frame Structure .................................................................................................... 24
2.3.2 Burst Structure ...................................................................................................... 27
2.4 MODULATION ................................................................................................................. 28
2.5 CODING .......................................................................................................................... 29
2.6 SYNCHRONIZATION ........................................................................................................ 31
2.6.1 Uplink Synchronization Establishment ................................................................. 31
2.6.2 Uplink Synchronization Maintenance ................................................................... 40
2.7 SMART ANTENNAS ......................................................................................................... 34
2.7.1 Smart Antenna Basics............................................................................................ 34
2.7.2 Joint Detection ...................................................................................................... 35
2.8 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... 36

3 NAVINI RIPWAVE.......................................................................................... 37
3.1 SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS ............................................................................................... 37
3.1.1 Forward Link......................................................................................................... 38
3.1.2 Reverse Link .......................................................................................................... 38
3.1.3 Bandwidth Allocation............................................................................................ 39
3.1.4 Modulation ............................................................................................................ 40
3.1.5 Frequency Selection .............................................................................................. 40
3.2 BASE STATION ............................................................................................................... 41
3.2.1 Base Transceiver Station....................................................................................... 41
3.2.2 Radio Frequency Subsystem.................................................................................. 42
3.2.3 Base Station Data Sheet ........................................................................................ 43
3.3 CUSTOMER PREMISE EQUIPMENT ................................................................................... 44
3.4 FIELD TRIALS ................................................................................................................. 45

vi
 3.4.1 Downlink Beamforming......................................................................................... 46
3.4.2 Uplink Beamforming ............................................................................................. 48
3.4.3 Uplink Carrier-to-Interference Ratio (CIR).......................................................... 50
3.4.4 Downlink Carrier-to-Interference Ratio (CIR) ..................................................... 51
3.4.5 Download Data Rates ........................................................................................... 53
3.4.6 Upload Data Rates ................................................................................................ 56
3.5 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... 59

4 ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (OFDM) 60

4.1 OFDM BASIC PRINCIPLES ............................................................................................. 60
4.2 OFDM GENERATION ..................................................................................................... 63
4.2.1 Cyclic Extension.................................................................................................... 65
4.2.2 Coding ................................................................................................................... 66
4.2.3 Synchronization..................................................................................................... 66
4.2.4 Signal Detection .................................................................................................... 67
4.2.5 OFDM System ....................................................................................................... 68
4.3 OFDM VARIETIES...................................................................................................... 71
4.3.1 Vector OFDM (VOFDM) ...................................................................................... 71
4.3.2 Wideband OFDM (WOFDM)................................................................................ 72
4.3.3 Flash OFDM ......................................................................................................... 73
4.4 VECTOR OFDM DETAILS .............................................................................................. 74
4.4.1 Upstream ............................................................................................................... 75
4.4.2 Downstream .......................................................................................................... 77
4.4.3 Transmit Diversity................................................................................................. 77
4.4.4 Receive Diversity................................................................................................... 78
4.4.5 Complexity............................................................................................................. 79
4.5 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... 80

5 TD-SCDMA VERSUS OFDM ......................................................................... 81

vii
 5.1 DUPLEXING STRATEGIES ................................................................................................ 81
5.1.1 FDD Guard Bands ................................................................................................ 82
5.1.2 TDD System Timing .............................................................................................. 84
5.1.3 Hardware Implications ......................................................................................... 85
5.1.4 Frequency Reuse ................................................................................................... 87
5.2 COVERAGE ..................................................................................................................... 90
5.3 CAPACITY ...................................................................................................................... 93
5.4 SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY ................................................................................................... 96
5.5 BEAMFORMING VERSUS DIVERSITY ............................................................................. 103
5.6 THROUGHPUT AND PACKETS (MAC LAYER ISSUES).................................................... 106
5.7 CHANNEL IMPAIRMENTS .............................................................................................. 108
5.7.1 Multipath ............................................................................................................. 108
5.7.2 Frequency Offset, Phase Noise, and Timing Errors ........................................... 109
5.7.3 Impulse Noise ...................................................................................................... 110
5.7.4 Peak-to-Average Power Ratio............................................................................. 110
5.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 111

6 CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................................. 113
6.1 THE RIPWAVE SYSTEM ................................................................................................. 113
6.2 COMPARISON OF TD-SCDMA AND VOFDM .............................................................. 114
6.2.1 Duplexing ............................................................................................................ 114
6.2.2 Coverage ............................................................................................................. 115
6.2.3 Capacity .............................................................................................................. 116
6.2.4 Spectral Efficiency............................................................................................... 116
6.2.5 Beamforming ....................................................................................................... 117
6.2.6 Throughput .......................................................................................................... 117
6.2.7 Channel Impairments .......................................................................................... 118
6.3 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 118

viii
APPENDIX A RIPWAVE DATA RATE CALCULATIONS..................... 120

APPENDIX B GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS ............................................. 123

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 126

VITA ..................................................................................................................... 133

ix
List of Figures

1.1 Evolution of the Broadband Market........................................................................................ 2

1.2 Dividing Geographic Regions into Cells ................................................................................ 4
1.3 FDMA Spectrum ................................................................................................................... 11
1.4 TDMA Framing Scheme ....................................................................................................... 11
1.5 CDMA Spectrum................................................................................................................... 12

2.1 Basic Principle of TD-SCDMA ............................................................................................ 17

2.2 TD-SCDMA Frame............................................................................................................... 18
2.3 Block Diagram of TD-SCDMA System ............................................................................... 19
2.4 Link level Uplink Transmission Model ................................................................................ 20
2.5 Link Level Downlink Transmission Model .......................................................................... 22
2.6 Carrier Frequency Allocation................................................................................................ 23
2.7 Frame, Burst, and Symbol Structure of TD-SCDMA........................................................... 24
2.8 Frame Structure for TD-SCDMA ......................................................................................... 25
2.9 Time-Slot Structure for the TDD Frame ............................................................................... 26
2.10 Symmetric and Asymmetric TDD Slot Assignments ........................................................... 26
2.11 TDD Scheme for TD-SCDMA ............................................................................................. 27
2.12 Burst Structure....................................................................................................................... 27
2.13 Spreading & 16-QAM Modulation Block Diagram.............................................................. 29
2.14 FEC Coding for BER < 10-6 .................................................................................................. 30

x
2.15 Turbo Code Encoder and Decoder ........................................................................................ 30
2.16 CPE Status Flow Diagram..................................................................................................... 31
2.17 Open Loop Synchronization.................................................................................................. 32

3.1 Ripwave Base Transceiver Station (BTS)............................................................................. 41

3.2 Radio Frequency Subsystem (RFS) ...................................................................................... 42
3.3 Customer Premise Equipment (CPE).................................................................................... 44
3.4 Ripwave System Under Test ................................................................................................. 46
3.5 Locations for Downlink Beamforming Test ......................................................................... 47
3.6 Distribution of Downlink Beamforming Gains..................................................................... 47
3.7 Uplink Beamforming Gain.................................................................................................... 49
3.8 Uplink SNR vs. I/C ............................................................................................................... 51
3.9 Location of Test Sites for Downlink CIR Test ..................................................................... 52
3.10 Downlink SNR vs. I/C .......................................................................................................... 53
3.11 Download Data Rates............................................................................................................ 54
3.12 Upload Data Rates................................................................................................................. 56

4.1 Concept of Multicarrier Modulation Techniques.................................................................. 61

4.2 OFDM Spectra ...................................................................................................................... 62
4.3 OFDM Modulator ................................................................................................................. 63
4.4 Simplified Presentation of an OFDM Signal ........................................................................ 64
4.5 Simplified OFDM Transceiver.............................................................................................. 65
4.6 Differential Detection in the Frequency and Time Domains ................................................ 68
4.7 OFDM Transceiver ............................................................................................................... 69
4.8 Downstream Encoding and Modulation................................................................................ 69
4.9 Downstream Demodulation and Decoding ........................................................................... 70
4.10 Uplink Encoding and Modulation ......................................................................................... 70
4.11 Uplink Demodulation and Decoding..................................................................................... 70
4.12 MIMO for VOFDM .............................................................................................................. 72
4.13 WOFDM Transceiver............................................................................................................ 72
4.14 Flash OFDM Principle .......................................................................................................... 73

xi
4.15 VOFDM System (showing MIMO technology) ................................................................... 74
4.16 VOFDM Experiment with Two Antennas ............................................................................ 74
4.17 VOFDM Transmitter Block Diagram ................................................................................... 75
4.18 VOFDM Receiver Block Diagram........................................................................................ 75
4.19 Upstream Performance Comparison of VODFM and SCM ................................................. 76
4.20 Simulation Results for Transmit Diversity............................................................................ 78
4.21 VOFDM and DFE Complexity ............................................................................................. 79

5.1 WCS Band (Blocks A and B are FDD Pairs)........................................................................ 82

5.2 MMDS Band ......................................................................................................................... 83
5.2.5 Back-Propagation Between LOS Base Stations................................................................... 84
5.3 FDD Interference Scenario.................................................................................................... 87
5.4 4x3 Reuse Pattern and Tier 1, 2, and 3 Interferers ................................................................ 88
5.5 ATDD Interference Scenario................................................................................................. 89
5.6 LOS and NLOS Power Loss Formulation............................................................................. 90
5.7 Downstream Performance with Different CPE Antennas..................................................... 92
5.8 CDF of C/I with Omnidirectional CPE Antennas ................................................................. 95
5.9 CDF of C/I with 20 Directional CPE Antennas................................................................... 96
5.10 Spectral Efficiency of Synchronous CDMA ......................................................................... 97
5.11 Transmit Diversity EIRP Gain ............................................................................................ 103
5.12 Transmit Beamforming EIRP Gain..................................................................................... 104
5.13 Relative Received Power for TX Diversity and TX Beamforming .................................... 105
5.14 Uplink Throughput of TD-SCDMA and DOCSIS/VOFDM .............................................. 107

xii
List of Tables

1.1 Suitable Frequencies for Broadband Wireless Access ............................................................ 5

1.2 Summary of Delay Characteristics for MMDS....................................................................... 7
1.3 Radio Transmission Technology Proposals for IMT-2000................................................... 14
1.4 ETSI UTRA Air Interface Technology Proposals ................................................................ 14

2.1 Number of Symbols per Data Field....................................................................................... 28

2.2 Parameters for Rate Convolutional Coding ...................................................................... 29

3.1 Key Base Station Data........................................................................................................... 43

3.2 Key CPE Data ....................................................................................................................... 45
3.3 Summary of Uplink Beamforming Gains ............................................................................. 49
3.4 Link Budget for 1 Mbps QPSK Downlink Signal................................................................. 55
3.5 Link Budget for 1 Mbps QPSK Downlink Signal................................................................. 58

5.1 TDD and FDD System Loss Comparison ............................................................................. 86

5.2 Antenna Configuration Results ............................................................................................. 91
5.3 Cells Needed for Different Antenna Configurations............................................................. 93
5.4 Spectral Efficiencies of TD-SCDMA ................................................................................... 98
5.5 Data Rates for TD-SCDMA Using 6 Downlink Slots and 1 Uplink Slot ............................. 98
5.6 TD-SCDMA Coded Efficiency Calculations ........................................................................ 99

xiii
5.7 Required C/I for TD-SCDMA (Using Block Turbo Codes) ............................................... 100
5.8 Spectral Efficiency Calculations ......................................................................................... 101
5.9 Required C/I for VOFDM ................................................................................................... 102
5.10 Spectral Efficiency Calculations ......................................................................................... 102
5.11 Relative Gains of TX Diversity and TX Beamforming ...................................................... 105

6.1 Benefits Summary of TD-SCDMA and VOFDM................................................................. 119

xiv
Chapter 1

Introduction

There is no doubt that wireless data service is in demand. Already the industry is seeing data
traffic in wireless networks begin to overtake voice, as it did in the wireline world a few years
back. The opportunities for new services are boundless. However, the technical challenges of
deploying high-speed data in a mobile or fixed broadband environment, when added to the high
cost of spectrum and a jittery market, have the potential to slow the rollout of third generation
networks. In the meantime, wireless network operators face the same issues as always
increasing revenue, growing their customer base, and generating profit.

1.1 Need for Wireless Broadband

The growing convergence of the technologies of voice, data, and video entertainment is driving
the need for flexible broadband communications direct to small businesses and to the home.
Upgrading the copper based local loop (currently the major bottleneck) to provide this capability
is possible, but doing so will be both slow and very expensive. In some rural areas, it will be
impossible. In these circumstances, wireless networks have a number of key advantages. In
particular, they are less expensive and can be installed more quickly than their wired

1
counterparts. In a wired network, the majority of the cost has to be expended on central plant
and cabling before subscribers can be connected and revenue can be earned. With a wireless
network, the radio base station has to be installed in advance, but the customer premises
equipment is only installed when new customers are added to the system [1]. In addition to these
major advantages of lower initial costs and rapid deployment, wireless broadband access makes
it easy to upgrade to a newer infrastructure. There is also the ability to define service types [for
Quality of Service (QOS) purposes] based on the type of users (residential / small businesses)
and there is inherent flexibility in dynamic bandwidth allocations.

1.2 Market Situation

No single application is seen to be the driving force in the broadband wireless market. Most
believe that it will be necessary to offer a range of services that will be easily adapted to new
requirements as the market develops. Some initial applications will be high-speed Internet
access, remote LAN access, file and data transfer, and video conferencing. Within a few years,
applications such as desk-to-desk video, tele-medicine, interactive CAD, or collaborative
working might be commonplace for broadband wireless technology. Figure 1.1 from [1] shows
how this scenario might develop in terms of time scales and required bit rates.

Figure 1.1: Evolution of the Broadband Market [1]

2
The dotted lines in the figure imply a smaller market servicing the corporate sector since its
needs will be far more than broadband wireless can handle (and they would be better off leasing
dedicated wired lines). SME in the figure refers to Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises. As
can be seen by Figure 1, the need for higher data rates will become the common place and will
drive the need for fixed broadband wireless access.

1.3 Key Feature of Broadband Wireless

Wireless broadband is not a single technology, but rather a collection of technologies, each with
slightly different properties. The spectral allocations for wireless broadband communications
range from MMDS (Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service), through ISM (Industrial,
Scientific, and Medical band), U-NII (Unlicensed band), and up to LMDS (Local Multipoint
Distribution Service).

Nevertheless, the operation principle for all these broadband wireless technologies is almost
identical. The digital hub is installed on the highest building or mountain so it can serve the
greatest radius (up to 35 miles depending on the choice of broadband wireless technology)
without too many obstructions. The users house or small business has either a digital
transceiver on the roof or a smart antenna inside the house, which transfers signal to a wireless
modem that communicates with the computer or LAN. This is a point-to-multipoint design, but
other configurations (such as point-to-point) are possible.

Wireless technologies use individual radio frequencies over and over again by dividing a service
area into separate geographic zones called cells. Cells can be as small as an individual building
(pico-cells) or as big as 35 miles across (macro-cells). Figure 1.2 from [2] illustrates the
different types of cells.

3
 Figure 1.2: Dividing Geographic Regions into Cells [2]

Each cell is equipped with its own base station operating at a particular frequency. Because the
system operates at such a low power, a frequency being used to carry a signal in one cell can be
used to carry another signal in a nearby cell without interference [3]. All wireless operators are
limited by allocated spectrum bandwidth, which without frequency-reuse, would be used very
ineffectively (and would be very expensive). In order to increase broadband capacity, these low
power facilities reuse frequencies on the radio spectrum.

Exactly what frequency band is used to carry the radio signal is a key parameter in the design of
the system. The frequency chosen will determine cell size, frequency reuse pattern, transmitter
power, and interference issues. The suitable frequencies for fixed broadband wireless access are
summarized in Table 1.1 below.

4
 Table 1.1: Suitable Frequencies for Broadband Wireless Access [4]
Band Center Frequencies / Bandwidth Description
Industrial, Scientific, and Medical Band
ISM 2.4, 5.6, 29 GHz / 83.5 MHz
(unlicensed)
Multichannel Multipoint Distribution
MMDS (Old) 2.100 2.300 GHz / 200 MHz
Service (licensed)
Wireless Communications Service
WCS 2.3 GHz / two 15 MHz blocks
(licensed)
Multichannel Multipoint Distribution
MMDS (New) 2.500 2.700 GHz / 200 MHz
Service (licensed)
U-NII 5.150 5.350 / 200 MHz Unlicensed band in USA
U-NII 5.725 5.825 / 100 MHz Unlicensed band in USA
General Wireless Communications
GWCS 4. 9 GHz / five 10 MHz blocks
Service (licensed)
5 GHz 5.150 5.350 GHz / 200 MHz Unlicensed band in Europe
5 GHz 5.470 5.725 / 255 MHz Unlicensed band in Europe
28 31 GHz / one 300 MHz
Local Multipoint Distribution Service
LMDS block, 1150 MHz A-band, 150
(licensed)
MHz B-band
DEMS 24 GHz Digital Electronic Messaging Service

This paper will only focus on fixed wireless broadband services operating in the ISM and
MMDS frequency bands.

1.4 Challenges of Fixed Broadband Wireless

The quality of service and data rate requirements in the fixed case are significantly higher than in
the mobile case. Meanwhile, most of the problems that dominate in the mobile case still apply in
the fixed case.

1.4.1 Attenuation

Attenuation is a drop in the signal power (in excess of that observed in free space) when
transmitting from one point to another. It can be caused by losses and obstructions in the signal

5
path and by multipath effects. Shadowing of the signal can occur whenever there is an
obstruction between the transmitter and the receiver. It is generally caused by buildings and hills
and is the most important environmental attenuation factor. For example, in the MMDS band, a
path through relatively heavy foliage can incur an excess (in addition to free space) attenuation
of more than 12 dB [5]. To overcome the problem of shadowing, hub units are usually placed as
high as possible (on a mountain or a tall building) to minimize the number of obstructions.

1.4.2 Multipath

In a radio link, the RF signal from the transmitter may be reflected from objects such as hills,
buildings, or vehicles. This gives rise to multiple incoming signals arriving over multiple
transmission paths at the receiver. The relative phase of multiple reflected signals can cause
constructive or destructive interference at the receiver. The Rayleigh distribution is commonly
used to describe such a statistical time-varying received signal power. It describes the
probability that the signal level will equal or exceed a stated value.

In any radio link, the channel power spectral density (PSD) is not flat. It has dips or fades in the
response where reflections cause cancellation of certain frequencies at the receiver. Reflections
off near-by objects, such as buildings or trees, can lead to multipath signals of similar signal
power as the direct signal. This can result in deep nulls in the received signal power due to
destructive interference. For narrow bandwidth transmissions, if the null in the frequency
response occurs at the transmission frequency, then the entire signal might be lost. This can be
overcome by moving the antenna a little bit to avoid the deep nulls, but that is inefficient. So, a
better way to overcome this problem is by transmitting a wide bandwidth signal as in Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or by splitting up the transmission into many small
bandwidth carriers as in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). These topics
will be elaborated upon in other chapters.

6
1.4.3 Delay Spread

The received signal consists typically of a direct signal plus reflections off buildings and other
objects. The reflected signals arrive at a later time than the direct signals because of the extra
path length. This interval spreads the received energy. Delay spread is the time spread between
the arrival of the first and last multipath signals seen by the receiver. In a digital system, the
delay spread can lead to inter-symbol interference (ISI). This is due to the delayed multipath
signal overlapping with the wanted symbols received later.

As the transmitted bit rate is increased, the amount of ISI also increases. The effect starts to
become very significant when the delay spread is greater than half of the bit period. The amount
of delay spread in fixed wireless channels depends strongly on the frequency of transmission and
the antenna characteristics. For example, in [6], median root mean square (RMS) delay spreads
for directional antennas in suburban environments of approximately 75 ns have been reported;
with omni-directional antennas in the same terrain, a delay spread of 175 ns has been found. The
reason for the difference in delay spreads is that echoes at longer delays tend to arrive at angles
farther from the direct path and are thus more attenuated in the case of directional antennas [6].

For the MMDS band, delay characteristics under line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight conditions
were gathered in [7]. The delay-spread information was obtained using a commercially
available channel sounder operating from 2.455 to 2.495 GHz. Table 1.2 summarizes those
results.

Table 1.2: Summary of Delay Characteristics for MMDS [7]

RMS Delay Spread, s

Visibility Receiving Antenna Type
Min Max Mean
Directional 0.02 0.04 0.03
LOS
Omni-directional 0.02 2.39 0.13
Directional 0.02 5.26 0.14
NLOS
Omni-directional 0.02 7.06 0.37

In the above experiment, the receiver used two antennas: a high-gain directional (non-isotropic
radiation pattern) antenna and a medium-gain horizontally omni-directional antenna. The

7
directional antenna had a gain of +21 dBi and a 10 beamwidth, and the omni-directional
antenna had a +9 dBi gain with a 17 elevation beamwidth.

For the ISM band, most of the delay spreads that were observed in [8] were fewer than 100 ns,
with a median value under 50 ns. Delay spreads show only a small increase in magnitude as a
function of path length [8]. In [9], RMS delay spread measurements (average) were observed to
be 37 ns for urban environments, 24 ns for suburban environments, and 19 ns for rural zones.

1.4.4 K-Factor (Ricean factor)

The path loss of a fixed broadband wireless channel can be represented as having a fixed
component plus a scatter component. The ratio of the average energy in the fixed component to
the average energy in the scatter component is called the K-factor or the Ricean factor.
Generally the K-factor in fixed wireless applications can be very low, if the base transmit station
(BTS) and customer premise equipment (CPE) antenna heights are kept relatively low [6].
Experiments undertaken in [6] can be concluded to state that in a fixed broadband wireless
system design, very low K-factors (almost purely Rayleigh fading conditions) are necessary to
provide large cell coverage and reliable operation at the edge of the cell. Experiments in [10]
show that most found (average) Ricean factors are in the range 8 to 5 dB (a Ricean factor of -
is purely Rayleigh fading).

1.4.5 Spectral Efficiency

The spectral efficiency of a wireless network is measured in bits per second per Hertz per cell
(BHC). Spectral efficiency can be increased through aggressive frequency reuse and higher-
order modulation. However, frequency reuse results in co-channel interference (CCI) in a
multicell environment. Treating CCI as additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), the Shannon
formula for the theoretical limit on BHC can be written as

8
 BHC = (L/mP)log2( 1 + [C / (N+I)] ),

where P is the spatial reuse factor, L is the angle reuse factor, m is the overhead factor
accounting for excess bandwidth and frequency guard bands/slots, and C/(N+I) is the carrier-to-
interference-plus-noise ratio [6]. Reducing P in macro/microcell systems or increasing L in
single cell systems would increase BHC. However, this results in an increase of CCI and
therefore a reduction of the modulation order that can be sustained. Typical values for BHC for
current mobile cellular systems are 0.2 0.3 [6]. Fixed broadband wireless requirements are in
the range of 2.0 2.5 [6], which implies that fixed wireless needs a significant increase in
spectral efficiency.

1.4.6 Line of Sight Issues

One of the major limitations for fixed wireless services is that there should be a clear line of sight
(LOS) between the antennas transmitting and receiving the signal. When there is not a clear
LOS path (i.e., signals have to penetrate buildings or other obstacles), sufficient margins need to
be placed in the link budgets to overcome the penetration losses. Building penetration loss is due
to attenuation or shielding of the radio signal by walls, floors, and ceilings. If we decrease the
height of an outdoor receiving antenna, the received signal power will usually decrease as well
this is referred to as height loss [10]. This is partially due to shielding by buildings or other
obstacles in the LOS path.

Experiments in [10] show that for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios, there is a median building
penetration loss of 12 dB and a height loss of 6 dB (when the receiver is much lower than the
transmitting antenna). The standard deviation of delay spread for the NLOS paths ranges from
80 to 200 ns, which is an order of magnitude larger than that of the LOS case [11]. The most
significant difference between LOS and NLOS is seen in the mean value of the weighted mean
delays [12]. In the LOS case, the delays decrease with distance between the transmitter and
receiver (independent of the base station height), while increasing for the NLOS case. This

9
implies the dominance of the guiding effect along the streets for below rooftop base station
heights [12].

1.5 Multiple Access Techniques

Multiple access schemes are used to allow many simultaneous users to use the same fixed
bandwidth radio spectrum. Sharing of the spectrum is required in order to increase the user
capacity of any wireless network. Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division
Multiple Access (TDMA), and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) are three of the most
common methods for multiple access. There are many extensions and hybrid techniques using
these methods, such as Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (SCDMA) and Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). However, an understanding of the three basic
methods is required for understanding any hybrid techniques.

1.5.1 Frequency Division Multiple Access

In Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), the available bandwidth is subdivided into a
number of narrower band channels. Each user is allocated a unique frequency band in which to
transmit and receive signals. The bandwidths of FDMA channels are generally small since each
channel only supports one user. FDMA is used as the primary breakup of large allocated
frequency bands and in most multichannel systems. Figure 1.3 shows the basic principle behind
FDMA. (Usually guard bands are needed between each channel.)

10
 Figure 1.3: FDMA Spectrum

1.5.2 Time Division Multiple Access

In Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), the available spectrum is subdivided into multiple
time slots. Each user is given a time slot in which to transmit or receive signals. The time slots
are provided to users in a round robin fashion, with each user being allotted one time slot per
frame. TDMA systems transmit data in a buffer and burst method, thus the transmission of each
channel is non-continuous. Due to the manner of data transmission, TDMA can only handle
digital data or sampled analog signals. Figure 1.4 shows the basic principle behind TDMA
(again, guard times are missing from the diagram).

Figure 1.4: TDMA Framing Scheme

1.5.3 Code Division Multiple Access

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a spread spectrum technique that uses neither
frequency nor time slots. In CDMA, the narrow band digitized message is multiplied by a large
bandwidth signal that is a pseudo random noise code (PN code). All users in a CDMA system

11
use the same frequency band and transmit simultaneously. The transmitted signal is recovered
by correlating the received signal with the PN code used by the particular transmitter. Some of
the major advantages of CDMA are signal hiding, non-interference with existing systems, anti-
jam and interference rejection, information security, large processing gain, and multipath
tolerance. The fundamental premise is that, in channels with narrowband noise, increasing the
transmitted signal bandwidth results in an increased probability that the received information will
be correct. If total signal power is interpreted as the area under the spectral density curve, then
signals with equivalent total power may have either a large signal power concentrated in a small
bandwidth or a small signal power spread over a large bandwidth. Figure 1.5 shows the general
principle behind CDMA.

Figure 1.5: CDMA Spectrum

As can be seen in Figure 1.5, the narrowband signal is spread out to the RF bandwidth over the
channel. The performance increase for very wideband systems is referred to as processing
gain. Signal spreading works well in situations with strong narrowband interference signals,
since the spread spectrum signal has a unique form of frequency diversity. The actual signal can
be spread by one of three basic techniques: direct sequence, frequency hopped, or hybrid forms.

12
1.6 Emergence of 3G

The goal for the next generation of mobile and fixed broadband communications systems is
providing a variety of communication services to everyone at any time. The technology needed
to tackle the challenges to make these services available is known as third generation (3G)
cellular systems. The first generation systems are represented by the analog mobile systems
designed to carry voice traffic. Their subsequent digital counterparts are known as second
generation (2G) cellular systems. Third generation systems will constitute a significant leap,
both in applications and capacity, from the current second generation systems. Third generation
cellular systems are being designed to support wideband services like high-speed Internet access,
video teleconferencing, and high quality image transmission with the same quality as in fixed
networks. The primary requirements of the next generation cellular systems are [13]:
Voice quality comparable to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
Support of high data rates: 144 kbps under high-speed moving environments, 384 kbps
under outdoor-to-indoor and pedestrian, and 2 Mbps under indoor conditions [14].
Support of packet-switched and circuit-switched applications.
More efficient usage of the available spectrum.
Backwards compatibility with pre-existing networks and flexible introduction of new
services and technologies.
An adaptive radio interface suited to highly asymmetric nature of most Internet
communications (more bandwidth for the downlink).

Research efforts have been underway for more than a decade to standardize the air interfaces for
third generation communications systems. The 3G mobile standards can be extended to the case
of fixed broadband access since those are what the broadband standards are going to be based
upon and since those are the current available specifications.

13
1.7 Third Generation (3G) Systems Proposals

Two of the most prominent bodies working on integrating the wide variety of proposals for third
generation systems are the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Table 1.3 presents the proposals developed for
the ITU in the International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 (IMT-2000).

Table 1.3: Radio Transmission Technology Proposals for IMT-2000 [15]

Proposal Description Source

Digital Enhanced Cordless
DECT ETSI Project DECT
Telecommunications
UWC-136 Universal Wireless Communications USA TIA TR45.3
Wireless Multimedia and Messaging
WIMS W-CDMA USA TIA TR46.1
Services Wideband CDMA
TD-SCDMA Time-Division Synchronous CDMA China CATT
W-CDMA Wideband CDMA Japan ARIB
CDMA II Asynchronous DS-CDMA S. Korea TTA
Universal Mobile Telecommunications
UTRA ETSI SMG2
System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access
NA: W-CDMA North American: Wideband CDMA USA T1P1-ATIS
CDMA2000 Wideband CDMA (IS-95) USA TIA TR45.5
CDMA I Multiband synchronous DS-CDMA S. Korea TTA

Table 1.4 presents the UTRA air interface technology proposals developed by the ETSI.

Table 1.4: ETSI UTRA Air Interface Technology Proposals [16]

Concept Group Multiple-Access Scheme

Alpha Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA)
Beta Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
Gamma Wideband Time Division Multiple Access (W-TDMA)
Delta Time Division / Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA)
Epsilon Opportunity Driven Multiple Access (ODMA)

This paper will only focus on two of the proposed air interfaces for third generation
communication systems: Time-Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-
SCDMA) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).

14
1.8 Contributions and Scope

This thesis will present the key features of TD-SCDMA and OFDM for broadband fixed wireless
access. Chapter 2 will present the basic features and background of TD-SCDMA. Then, in
Chapter 3, the Navini Networks Ripwave system, which uses TD-SCDMA, will be analyzed and
compared to theory. Chapter 4 will present the key features and background of OFDM. Finally,
Chapter 5 will present a numerical and theoretical comparison between TD-SCDMA and
OFDM. From this work, we will draw general conclusions about the suitability of synchronous
CDMA and OFDM for broadband fixed wireless systems.

15
Chapter 2

Synchronous CDMA

TD-SCDMA was proposed by the Chinese Wireless Telecommunications Standards group

(CWTS) to ITU, and was accepted as a candidate for third generation systems. This chapter
gives an overview of the basics, the implementations, and the benefits of TD-SCDMA (Time
Division Synchronous CDMA) for optimized spectral efficiency in a TDD (Time Division
Duplexed) operation for symmetric and asymmetric services. The support of asymmetric
services (e.g., high-speed Internet access) in a highly efficient manner is one of the key
differences of 3G services over the current 2G systems. The scheme of TD-SCDMA uses the
existing GSM infrastructure with 3G-service availability.

2.1 TD-SCDMA Basic Principles

A basic system in TD-SCDMA includes a Wireless Base Station (WBS) and multiple User
Terminals (UTs) or Customer Premise Equipments (CPEs). The combination of FDMA, TDMA,
CDMA, and Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA) gives TD-SCDMA a high flexibility of
minimizing intercell interference (ICI). The FDMA component allows the use of different
carriers to minimize ICI by frequency domain dynamic channel allocation (DCA). The TDMA

16
component ensures that only a relatively small number of users are operating simultaneously
within a given timeslot. Therefore, only a small group of users within a cell is causing ICI. The
CDMA component allows multiple access in each timeslot. The SDMA component, through the
use of smart antennas and space domain DCA, ensures a very effective directional decoupling of
users, thus, minimizing ICI.

The basic difference between TD-SCDMA and the current IS-95 CDMA standard is that in
synchronous CDMA, the spreading sequences of the multiple CPEs CDMA signals are
synchronized at the base station (so the reverse link, as well as the forward link, is
synchronized). This means that all the CPE signals arrive at the base station at the same tiem.
This feature is important in a CDMA system to guarantee the orthogonality of the spreading
codes, thus virtually removing the co-channel interference from other code channels.

Each system uses a carrier RF frequency channel and can handle up to 64 combined TDMA and
SCDMA code channels that can be aggregated to provide a 2 Mbps data rate in the indoor
environment. Specifically, each RF channel includes 8 TDMA time slots and 16 CDMA code
channels in each TDMA time slot. Figure 2.1 shows the basic principle of TD-SCDMA.

Figure 2.1: Basic Principle of TD-SCDMA [17]

These slots and code channels share the same RF bandwidth by using the well-known direct-
sequence CDMA (DS-CDMA) method. Each code channel is identified by a specific Walsh
code exclusive-ORed with a common pseudo-random (PN) spreading code. The transmitted
code channels are transmitted mutually orthogonal in a mathematical sense. Mutually
orthogonal means that the cross correlations between the signals are small (ideally zero). This is
established by covering the forward error corrected (FEC) code symbols with one of the 64
Walsh codes. Since only whole periods of the Walsh functions occur in each code symbol, the

17
effect of the Walsh cover is to make the channels separable at the receiver in the absence of
multipath [18]. The orthogonality means that there is no interference between users in the same
cell as well as meaning there is no intermingling of the channels. This has a substantial
beneficial effect on the capacity yielding theoretically twice as much as IS-95 when multipath
is negligible [19]. In an asynchronous CDMA system, whenever a new user enters a particular
cell site, the power level of all users within that cell must be increased. In other words, when
each new user joins the network, the noise floor increases so all users on the system must
increase their power output to be heard. After a certain point, the asynchronous CDMA
system hits a pole capacity the point where the power requirements are so high that the
terminals hit their power output limits. In a synchronous CDMA system, the code channels are
orthogonal, which minimizes interference and increases capacity.

The basic scheme of TD-SCDMA also incorporates TDMA operation in TDD mode. For
parallel transmission of multiple lower bit rate signals (e.g., speech), CDMA transmission is
applied. However, for serial transmission of high bit rate signals (e.g., high-speed Internet),
TDMA transmission without spreading is applied [20]. For multiple-signal CDMA transmission,
the timeslots of the basic TDMA frame are filled with a maximum number of 16 coded and
spread CDMA signals per time slot (as explained above). For high bit rate TDMA
transmissions, the timeslots are filled with one serial wideband signal representing a sequence of
information packets for different users and varying sizes depending on demand. This concept is
illustrated in Figure 2.2 below.

TDMA Frame

TDMA wideband signal

CDMA Burst

Figure 2.2: TD-SCDMA Frame

18
For lower bit rate transmissions, the basic TDMA frame in Figure 2.2 would be filled with a
maximum of CDMA bursts. For higher bit rate transmissions, a wideband signal takes up the
entire TDMA frame. The system internal switching from parallel CDMA to serial TDMA
transmissions is accomplished by changing the filing modes of the basic TDMA timeslot and
frame structure in the digital signal processor (DSP) [20].

A smart antenna and baseband DSP are also key features of the TD-SCDMA system. A smart
antenna system is formed by an array of multiple antennas and coherent transceivers. Instead of
just a fixed beam pattern, the smart antenna system can generate multiple beam patterns, each of
which is specific for a particular CPE. Smart antennas and spatial diversity will be expanded
upon later in the chapter.

These basic descriptions of TD-SCDMA leads to the block diagram presented in Figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3: Block Diagram of TD-SCDMA System [21]

19
The block diagram shown above leads into the generic link level transmission models of TD-
SCDMA shown in Figures 2.4 and 2.5 for the uplink and downlink respectively.

Figure 2.4: Link level Uplink Transmission Model [22]

In Figure 2.4, the time discrete equivalent low-pass representation of the signals and impulse
responses are shown. In these models, d represents the data block vectors, c represents the
CDMA code vectors, h represents the impulse response vectors, n represents the noise vectors,
and e represents the receiver input vector.

Let us consider one of the two data blocks (Figure 2.12 will show that there are two data blocks
in each burst) of the simultaneously transmitted burst signals. Then, Ks data blocks consisting of
N data symbols dn(ks), n = 1N, each are simultaneously transmitted. Each of these data blocks
can be written as the partial data vector

d(ks) = [d1(ks) dN(ks)]T, ks = 1Ks.

The N data symbols dn(ks) in d(ks) take on values from a finite data symbol set

20
 Vd = {Vd,1Vd,Md}

of cardinality Md. By stacking the Ks partial data vectors d(ks), the total data vector

d = [d(1)T d(Ks)T]T

of dimension NKs can be obtained. Prior to transmission, each data symbol dn(ks) is spectrally
spread by a CDMA code

c(ks) = [c1(ks) cQ(ks)]T, ks = 1Ks,

of dimension Q assigned to the partial data vector d(ks). Then, the N spectrally spread data
symbols dn(ks)c(ks) are inputted into a radio channel each with impulse response

h(ks) = [h1(ks)hW(ks) ]T, ks = 1Ks,

of dimension W. Next the output signals of the Ks radio channels are superposed by the receive
antennas and noise (symbolized by the noise vector n) is added. Now, the final receiver input
signal symbolized by e in Figure 2.4 is obtained. Both n and e have dimensions NQ+W-1.

Figure 2.5 shows the downlink link-level transmission model and is displayed below.

21
 Figure 2.5: Link Level Downlink Transmission Model [23]

In Figure 2.5, once again the time discrete equivalent low-pass representation of the signals and
impulse responses are shown. In these models, d represents the data block vectors, w represents
the antenna weight vector, h represents the impulse response vectors, and AE represents the
antenna element. A similar description of the downlink model to that of the uplink model is
explained in [23].

2.2 RF Channel Parameters

The RF interface for the TD-SCDMA system in the proposal to the ITU specified the following
RF requirements for both the Wireless Base Station (WBS) and User Terminal (UT) [21].

1. Operation Frequency Band: IMT-2000 band (1900 MHz 1920 MHz, 2010 MHz
2025 MHz).
2. Carrier Frequency: fc = F1 + 0.8 + (N*1.4 MHz), where N = 0,1, N (see Figure
2.6).

22
 Figure 2.6: Carrier Frequency Allocation

3. Bandwidth: 1.12 MHz (3-dB), 1.4 MHz (99% energy).

4. Duplex Scheme: Time Division Duplex (TDD) with a frame size of 5 ms.
5. Baseband Modulation: DQPSK or 16-QAM.
6. Multiplex Scheme: TD-SCDMA.
7. Spreading Factor: 16 down to 1.
8. Chip Rate: 1.28 Mchip/s.
9. Maximum Transmit Power: WBS: 30 36 dBm, UT: 20 33 dBm.
10. Receiver Noise Figure (NF): 5 dB.
11. Receiver Dynamic Range: WBS: 30 dB, UT: 80 dB.
12. Receiver Sensitivity: -110 dBm (BER < 10-3 for DQPSK).

However, the CWTS and vendors (such as Navini) are constantly changing these parameters as
the TD-SCDMA standard matures.

2.3 Frame and Multiplexing Structure

In TD-SCDMA, a maximum of up to 16 differently coded bursts are transmitted in parallel in

each timeslot of the TDMA frame. Each data symbol is made up of a code word with chip
sequences of up to 16 chips. A midamble for channel state measurement is placed in the
center of each burst. Channel estimation can therefore be performed by a cyclic correlation and
this training sequence. (TD-SCDMA is intrinsically protected against co-channel interference

23
since orthogonal spreading codes are used. However, in the presence of multipath, the signals
lose their orthogonality, leading to increased cross correlation. In these cases, channel estimation
may be needed to improve the detection of the desired symbols [24].) Figure 2.7 shows an
example of the frame, burst, and symbol structure of TD-SCDMA.

Figure 2.7: Frame, Burst, and Symbol Structure of TD-SCDMA [17]

2.3.1 Frame Structure

The radio frame has a duration of 10 ms and is subdivided into two subframes of 5 ms each.
Each subframe is then subdivided into seven main time slots (TS) of 675 s each and three
special time slots: DwPTS (downlink pilot), G (guard period), and UpPTS (uplink pilot). Figure
2.8 describes the division mechanism for a TD-SCDMA frame.

24
 Figure 2.8: Frame Structure for TD-SCDMA [25]

A single switching point separates the uplink and the downlink slots (the switching point is
thought of another time slot to make 8 total). All the main time slots (at least one main time slot)
before the single switching point are allocated as downlink, and all the main time slots (at least
one main time slot) after the single switching point are allocated as uplink. Figure 2.9 shows the
timeslot assignments in one subframe.

25
 Figure 2.9: Time-Slot Structure for the TDD Frame [25]

The location of the TDD switching point may be varied dynamically depending upon the uplink
and downlink transmission rate, but there is only one switching point in a subframe [19]. Figure
2.10 below shows a symmetric and an asymmetric frame allocation.

Figure 2.10: Symmetric and Asymmetric TDD Slot Assignments

The top frame in Figure 2.10 represents a symmetric transmission and the bottom frame
represents asymmetric transmissions. The uplink and downlink frames can be adjusted
dynamically this feature is important to maximize the system throughput and spectral
efficiency of data applications. Figure 2.11 shows the two possible arrangements for uplink and
downlink frames in a 5 ms TDD frame.

26
 Figure 2.11: TDD Scheme for TD-SCDMA [21]

In Figure 2.11, G2 is the switching point and X has exactly 6 possible values as shown below:
X = N * 0.675 + 0.275 ms, where N = 1,26

2.3.2 Burst Structure

Each 675 s subframe (or burst) consists of two data symbol fields, a midamble of 144 chips and
a guard period of 16 chips. The burst structure is illustrated in Figure 2.12 below.

Figure 2.12: Burst Structure

In the burst structure of Figure 2.12, each data field contains one chip per symbol (and since
QPSK modulation is used, one symbol = 2 bits). It is clear that the data symbols total 704 chips
(two data fields of 352 chips each), but the corresponding number of symbols depends on the
spreading factor as indicated in Table 2.1.

27
 Table 2.1: Number of Symbols per Data Field
Number of Symbols Timeslot Information Rate
Spreading Factor
per Data Field (bps)
1 352 281,600
2 176 140,800
4 88 70,400
8 44 35,200
16 22 17,600

The Timeslot Information Rate (bps) is calculated by

Timeslot Information Rate = (Symbols/Burst) * (bits / symbol) / (Subframe length)

= (352 + 352) * (2) / (5E-03) = 281,600 bps.

The data part of the burst is spread with a combination of channelization code and scrambling
code. The channelization code is an Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) code that can
have a spreading factor of 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16. The data rate of the physical channel is depending on
the used spreading factor of the used OVSF code.

2.4 Modulation

For voice and data services with data rates less than 384 kbps, the basic RF modulation method
is DQPSK. However, for data services up to 2 Mbps (as in fixed broadband wireless), the
primary RF modulation method is 16-QAM. The other method of providing 2 Mbps is the multi-
carrier technology, where the RF modulation on each carrier is DQPSK. Figure 2.13 shows the
spreading and 16-QAM modulation for the dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) and the
dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH).

28
 Figure 2.13: Spreading & 16-QAM Modulation Block Diagram [21]

The lowpass filter for pulse shaping, p(t), is a root raised cosine (RRC) filter with = 0.25,
making the 3 dB bandwidth 556.8 kHz.

2.5 Coding

As with any digital wireless channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding is used to lower the
bit error rate (BER) on that channel. Only convolutional coding is applied in the case where a
BER of 10-3 is needed. The convolutional coding rates change according to the different
services. Rates from to 1 can be chosen such that the entire system will be able to reuse as
much of the decoding hardware as possible. Normally, the inner convolutional coding rate of
is chosen. Parameters of the code polynomials for -rate coding are given in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Parameters for Rate Convolutional Coding

Constraint Generator Generator Generator Generator Free

Rate
Length Polynomial 1 Polynomial 2 Polynomial 3 Polynomial 4 Distance
3/4 9 472 215 113 764 6

After convolutional coding, interleaving is used. For services requiring a BER = 10-6, a
concatenated code scheme such as Reed-Solomon (RS) or outer interleaving and convolutional
coding could be used. Figure 2.14 shows such a possible FEC coding scheme.

29
 Figure 2.14: FEC Coding for BER < 10-6

The outer interleaver is necessary to break the error burst at the output of the Viterbi decoder.
This is needed in addition to the inner interleaver for breaking the error bursts due to fading [21].
Alternatively, for services requiring a BER of 10-6 and high data rates, Turbo coding could be
used. The proposed turbo code encoder and decoder (by the Chinese Academy of
Telecommunications Technology to the ITU) for TD-SCDMA is shown in Figure 2.15 below.

Figure 2.15: Turbo Code Encoder and Decoder [21]

30
2.6 Synchronization

One of the requirements of 3G systems is the high system capacity. SCDMA implies that the
uplink channels always work synchronously, which can increase capacity by 3 dB and simplify
the demodulator [26]. The downlink channel is synchronized on all CDMA systems; therefore
this paper will not explore the topic any further. However, uplink synchronicity is unique to
SCDMA and involves two stages: synchronization establishment and synchronization
maintenance. Figure 2.16 illustrates in greater depth the stages that the CPE has to follow.

Figure 2.16: CPE Status Flow Diagram

The CPE starts off in the powered down stage. After the CPE is powered on, it will establish
synchronization with the base station and start the procedure of Air Registration. Afterwards, it
goes into the idle stage to conserve battery power. The CPE may establish link and
communication with the base station only from the idle stage. These operations are explained in
greater detail in the following two subsections.

2.6.1 Uplink Synchronization Establishment

The main guard time slot at the switching point (from uplink to downlink) is an empty period
sufficient to establish uplink synchronization. Theoretically the guard time should be larger than
the sum of the signal processing time plus 2D/C, where D is the largest transmission distance and
C is the speed of light [19]. The guard time is usually kept constant at the side of the base station

31
and is adjusted at the CPE side based on the distance. In the physical layer signaling, the
synchronization shift (SS) and power control (PC) fields are assigned in the main downlink time
slot. These fields are used to calculate the distance between the CPE and the base station based
on the transmission time.

When a CPE is turned on, it will receive the strongest signal from the nearby base stations (for
the case of fixed wireless access, the same base station will always provide the strongest signal).
When it receives the strongest signal, it will obtain receiving synchronization, and then
demodulate the received signal in the common control physical channel (CCPCH) to obtain the
necessary information (the SS and PC fields). After the receiving synchronization and the
information from the downlink are obtained, the CPE will begin the Air Registration procedure
by using the open loop synchronization algorithm. The open loop synchronization algorithm is
used by the CPE to find its transmission time and send the Air Registration information to the
base station through a physical random access channel (PRACH). The base station then receives
the Air Registration information and will find the tolerances in the transmitter power and in the
arriving time. Afterwards, it will send the response on the SS and PC (located in the CCPCH)
fields described above. Consequently, the CPE will adjust its transmission power and
transmission time to establish uplink synchronization. Figure 2.17 shows the open loop
synchronization procedure.

Figure 2.17: Open Loop Synchronization [21]

32
In Figure 2.17, T0 and Tr represent the point at which receiving synchronization is established
and T1 represents uplink synchronization being obtained. The time between the two can be
calculated by:

T1 Tr = R / C,

where R is the cell radius, C is the speed of light, Tr = T0 + 611 + (N*582) + 230 s, and N is the
number of the current downlink time slot [21].

2.6.2 Uplink Synchronization Maintenance

In the idle status (refer to Figure 2.16), the CPE will be in sleep mode to conserve its battery
for most of the time. However, it will come out of sleep mode when the frame number (FN) is
matched with the last four digits of its PID. Then, the CPE will adjust its receiver
synchronization and receive the information in the CCPCH. This way, the Rx synchronization is
always maintained (even under movement or clock drift) [21].

In the communication status (refer to Figure 2.16), uplink synchronization is maintained

through the framing. There is a synchronization field (E/SYNC2) in the control channel
multiplexed frame and only the CPE, in which the distributed Walsh number matches the present
frame number (FN), may send the SYNC2 data. Other CPEs operating in this time slot, but with
a different channel code, will be in the EMPTY status. Once this data is received, the following
downlink frame will have the necessary SS and PC field data to perform both close loop power
control and synchronization control. The close loop synchronization control will be executed
once every 80 ms, which is equivalent to 16 TDD intervals, for each CPE [19].

33
2.7 Smart Antennas

As seen in Figure 2.3, smart antennas are one of the key features of TD-SCDMA. Smart
antennas are dual-function antennas (are able to transmit and receive) installed at the base
station. Directivity is achieved by an array of fixed antenna elements with programmable
electronic phase relations. Using this, each link from a base station to a CPE has a unique
directivity. Since the duplexing scheme is TDD, the transmission and reception of user signals
take place at the same frequency. Therefore, the directive smart antennas show the same two-
way antenna pattern and thus, reciprocity of propagation conditions in both directions is given.
Reciprocity allows the full utilization of ICI and intracell interference reduction. Therefore,
smart antennas can lead to a remarkable improvement of spectral efficiency.

2.7.1 Smart Antenna Basics

In the basic system, smart antennas are composed of a concentric array of eight antenna elements
having a diameter of 25 cm. This configuration allows a directivity of 8 dB in either the transmit
or receive direction as compared to an omnidirectional antenna. Based on such a layout, the
angle of directivity (beamwidth) amounts to 40 degrees [27].

If a base station had N antenna elements and N coherent RF transceivers, the smart antenna
system would have the following advantages:
Rx sensitivity could increase N times,
Tx EIRP could increase N2 times (with coherent transmitters), and
Inter- and intra- cell interference could decrease by a factor of N.
Thus, the Tx power can be kept lower at both the base station and the CPE, yet the received
SINR is higher. Experiments in [28] show the range, capacity, and data rate increases a smart
antenna system can achieve. These experiments also show that a smart antenna system exhibits
greater resistance to multipath, delay spread, and CCI.

34
The main problem with smart antennas in sectorial applications is the limited beamwidth, which
is directly determined by the number of antenna elements. Transmitter or receiver antenna
diversity is one alternative to directional smart antennas. Diversity and beamforming will be
investigated when exploring the TD-SCDMA and Vector OFDM systems.

2.7.2 Joint Detection

Joint detection is primarily a multi user detection scheme, which refers to the highly effective
detection procedure for multiple parallel signals transmitted in the CDMA mode of TD-SCDMA.
Consequently, joint detection is applied for multiple transmissions of bit rates of 8 kbps to 384
kbps. Joint detection minimizes multiple access interference (MAI) of all users and as a
consequence, the user load per carrier can be increased by a factor of three [29].

In CDMA, a very high number of user signals are transmitted in parallel per RF channel
respective to a particular transceiver. Each of the signals transmitted in parallel is differently
coded from others and separated by code correlation in the receivers. The power of all the
signals transmitted from the CPEs to the base stations (multipoint-to-point) are summed at the
base stations receiver input. A precondition for successful detection of all signals is a balanced
mutual signal level with a mutual level deviation of +1.5 dB [29]. Different path lengths,
different delay spreads, and different path attenuations uniquely affect each signal. Therefore, in
order to mutually balance all the received signals at the receiver of the base station, a multi loop
fast power control (FPC) is required [30]. The balanced multiple signals cause a Gaussian
distributed sum level at the base station receiver, which leads to a strong interference to each
detected (by code correlation) signal. This MAI directly limits the traffic load of each carrier
and therefore limits the entire spectrum utilization.

Minimized MAI extends the signal detection range for each signal to a permissible level
difference of 20 dB [29]. Thus, fast signal fluctuations caused by Rayleigh fading does not
affect the signal detection. Therefore, the complexity of the power control is greatly reduced.
However, joint detection cannot be applied without limitations. By increasing the number of

35
parallel users, joint detection leads to a square law increase of computing power. Also, by an
increase in the number of users, a more than proportional noise enhancement occurs, which
degrades the range of the system [29]. Thus, joint detection is only effective if the number of
parallel users is already semi-low.

There are many different joint detection techniques and a lot of research is devoted to the
subject. Powerful joint detection algorithms are given in [30] and a number of other sources, but
that is beyond the scope of this paper.

2.8 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter described the basic concepts of synchronous CDMA. The key
principle that differentiates SCDMA from IS-95 CDMA is that all signals in the uplink channels
are synchronous at the input of the base station demodulator with high accuracy. A complete
block diagram of a synchronous CDMA system was given in Figure 2.3 above. Next, the
framing, modulation, coding, and synchronization details were given. Finally, details on the
smart antenna system were described. Since the scope of this paper is limited to fixed broadband
wireless, there has been no description of the Baton handover or any other mobile-related topics
specific to TD-SCDMA. The next chapter will describe and characterize an example TD-
SCDMA system: Navini Networks Ripwave system.

36
Chapter 3

Navini Ripwave

Navini Networks has developed a broadband wireless system based on time division
synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA) as described in the previous chapter. The Navini Ripwave
system is advertised to provide high-speed data rates on par with cable modems and DSL, does
not require any installation of hardware at the customer premise, allows for non-line-of-sight
deployment, and allows end-users to have freedom of movement. This chapter will first describe
the Navini Ripwave system as a whole. Then, descriptions of the Base Transceiver Station
(BTS), the Radio Frequency Subsystem (RFS), and the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) will
be given. Next, data from the field trials will be analyzed in terms of beamforming gain, Carrier-
to-Interference (C/I) ratio, and data rates. Afterwards, uplink and downlink power and noise
budgets will be formulated based on some of the experiment results.

3.1 System Specifications

Developed to support operation in the unlicensed frequency spectrum at 2.4 GHz, Navini
Networks Ripwave 2400 is a broadband wireless access solution. Although intended to work in
unlicensed bands, the Ripwave has been extended to MMDS, WCS, WLL, and PCS bands as

37
well. The Ripwave solution supports a downstream channel size of 5 MHz (ten 500 kHz sub-
channels), with QPSK, 8PSK, 16-QAM, and 64-QAM modulation schemes. The upstream
channel size is 2 MHz (four 500 kHz sub-channels) and also supports QPSK, 8PSK, 16-QAM,
and 64-QAM. With a 3:1 TDD, this leads to a maximum downstream rate of 18 Mbps and a
maximum upstream rate of 6 Mbps under ideal conditions. The asymmetric time slot assignment
of 3:1 refers to three downlink slots per every uplink time slot in each frame.

3.1.1 Forward Link

On the forward link, when a signal intended for a certain CPE is transmitted from an antenna
array at the BTS, the amplitude and phase of the signal at each antenna can be adjusted so that
they combine coherently at the CPE. The signal is radiated from the BTS antennas in such a way
that it forms a beam of energy directed at the particular CPE. Suppose that the average
transmitter power at each antenna is P and the number of antennas is N. Then, the received
signal strength at the CPE is P * N2 on average. In the current version, N = 8.

The CPE does not use beamforming; instead it uses two internal patch antennas and a single
omni antenna. During the forward link, the CPE will switch between the three antennas and
automatically select the best signal. Once that antenna is selected on the forward link, the same
antenna is used on the reverse link. The CPE will switch between the three antennas every 10
ms [31].

3.1.2 Reverse Link

On the reverse link, the CPE will send the signal to the BTS on the same antenna that was
selected for the forward link. When a signal from a specific CPE is received, the base-station
receiver can adjust the weight and phase for the signal from each antenna so that the intended
signal can be combined coherently and the interference suppressed. Since the desired signal is
combined coherently and noise is combined incoherently, the SNR of the received signal can be

38
increased on average by a factor of N after uplink beamforming (under idealized conditions).
Therefore, N times less transmission power is needed for both uplink and downlink, which
translates into a longer battery run-time on the CPE units [31].

Another key feature of the adaptive beamforming on the reverse link is that the system can be
configured to avoid radiating energy in any specific direction. If an interference source is
detected in a particular direction, the system can create a null in that direction. This is especially
critical in the ISM band where there are sure to be cordless phones, WLANs, or microwave
ovens radiating energy towards the CPE and base station.

3.1.3 Bandwidth Allocation

The Ripwave 2400 system can allocate channels in increments as small as 25 Kbps, which
provides the BTS with the flexibility of allowing variable bandwidth from 25 Kbps to 9.6 Mbps
(using 64-QAM) per CPE. Channels are allocated on a per-user burst basis, thus allowing for up
to one thousand subscribers per BTS [31]. The BTS can dynamically assign symmetric and
asymmetric uplink and downlink bandwidths to maximize the bandwidth utilization. The system
runs on a 10 ms TDD cycle that consists of an uplink / downlink time. During normal allocation,
the send and receive times are equal (same forward and reverse link speeds). The system is also
capable of changing to a 3:1 asymmetric TDD cycle based upon loading conditions where the
forward link is allocated 3 times the number of slots as the reverse link. The entire BTS and all
CPEs connected to it must be set to the same symmetric or asymmetric level.

The Ripwave BTS can run up to a 5 MHz contiguous bandwidth spectrum. This spectrum is
divided into 500 kHz sub-carriers (3-dB bandwidth of 400 kHz) with each using 32 code
channels (sub-carrier spacing and number of code channels are both different from the CWTS
TD-SCDMA specifications of Chapter 2). A CPE can occupy up to a maximum of 4 sub-carriers
or 128 code channels. This matches the CPE contiguous bandwidth of 2 MHz (4 * 500 kHz = 2
MHz). A CPE does not have to necessarily occupy all 32-code channels in a sub-carrier. The

39
CPE allocation of code channels and subcarriers is controlled by the BTS. This allocation can be
dynamic and on a burst-by-burst basis.

If each CPE uses all 32-code channels and the maximum 4 sub-carriers (for a higher data rate),
then the BTS can only support 2.5 CPEs. So, when more CPEs need to be supported, the
subcarrier will divide its code channels between different users. The maximum number of users
that can be supported with one base station is 320, each at a maximum total data rate of 25 kbps
using QPSK. The reason for this is that with the FCC limitations on transmitted power in the
ISM band, a high spreading gain is always required. The Ripwave system uses 32-length Walsh
codes to achieve a 15 dB spreading gain for all users. The highest downlink data rate that can be
supported by one CPE is 7.2 Mbps using 64-QAM and asymmetric 3:1 TDD timing. If using this
mode, the uplink data rate will be 2.4 Mbps. In this mode, one CPE has been assigned the
maximum of 4 subcarriers and all 32 code-channels within each subcarrier. (These calculations
are shown in Appendix A).

3.1.4 Modulation

The system is capable of using four modulation schemes: QPSK, 8-PSK, 16-QAM, and 64-
QAM. The modulation is selected by the BTS based upon the SNR at the CPE. The modulation
is dynamic and can change with each 10 ms TDD cycle. Each code channel can also have
different modulation schemes based upon traffic and needs [32].

3.1.5 Frequency Selection

In order to avoid interference, the CPE will select the quietest subcarriers (one of ten) with
which to communicate with the BTS. If the level of noise on a subcarrier increases, the CPE can
move to a quieter subcarrier. In extreme cases when interference changes drastically, the CPE
can switch to another BTS entirely. If this is not possible, then the BTS may move the entire

40
system to another 5 MHz bandwidth and request all CPEs to reinitialize to the new frequency
[31].

3.2 Base Station

The Ripwave base station consists of two units, the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and the
Radio Frequency Subsystem (RFS).

3.2.1 Base Transceiver Station

The BTS shown in Figure 3.1 below consists of a digital shelf and an RF shelf, and performs all
transmit, receive, and signal processing functions.

Figure 3.1: Ripwave Base Transceiver Station (BTS) [32]

The digital shelf consists of an IF card, synthesizer card, channel processor card, modem card,
and communications controller card. The IF card is a 4-channel IF-to-baseband converter. The
synthesizer card is a local oscillator (LO) generation card with a single calibration transceiver

41
incorporated. The channel processor card contains the DACs and ADCs that interface to the IF
card. The modem card monitors the physical layer functions and periodically performs system
calibrations. Finally, the communications controller card is the master controller in the BTS that
provides all the WAN interfaces (T1/IMA, and Ethernet).

The RF shelf is the upper portion of the BTS chassis and contains the digital and power amplifier
(PA) modules. The PA card provides the forward link high power amplification, the RF to IF
conversion, and the TX/RX time division circuitry. All elements are fully redundant and
function in a load-sharing manner.

3.2.2 Radio Frequency Subsystem

A key component of the Ripwave solution is its cost-effective use of digital beamforming. The
digital beamforming function is provided by the adaptive phased array smart antenna subsystem
of Navinis wireless broadband base station, also known as the RFS. The RFS, seen in Figure
3.2 below, houses an antenna array, passive calibration circuits, filtering, low noise amplifiers,
and lightning protection [31].

Figure 3.2: Radio Frequency Subsystem (RFS) [32]

42
The RFS is typically deployed on a transmission tower or a building rooftop. The current
Ripwave system contains an array of eight antenna elements.

3.2.3 Base Station Data Sheet

The data sheet of the base station, which includes both the BTS and RFS, is given in [33] and
the key parameters are summarized in Table 3.1 below.

Table 3.1: Key Base Station Data

Operational Frequency Band
Multiple Access Scheme
Duplex Format
Carrier Bandwidth
Total Signal Bandwidth
Number of Code Channels
Antennas
Total Sectors
Uplink/Downlink Duplex
Spreading Spectrum Scheme
Baseband Modulation
System Throughput
Output Power
Average Coverage
Forward Error Correction
Redundancy
WAN Interfaces
Packet Format
Temperature
MMDS, ISM, WCS, WLL, PCS, UNII bands
Frequency agnostic, programmable platform
Multi-carrier synchronous CDMA
Time Division Duplexing (TDD)
500 kHz
5 MHz contiguous
320 (Access / Data Channels)
Omni or 3-sectored
Adaptive phased-array antenna with beamforming
Up to 3
TDD with a maximum 3:1 ratio for down/up time slots
Direct Sequence Spreading (DSS)
QPSK, 8PSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM
Up to 24 Mbps per sector (fully loaded max raw data rate)
49 dBm EIRP
36 dBm EIRP (2.4 GHz ISM band)
Up to 80 sq. km (5 km radius)
Up to 29 sq. km (3 km radius) 2.4 GHz ISM band
Reed Solomon (RS)
99.999% high availability (three-nines availability)
T1, ATM, IMA, DS-3, OC-3, 10/100 Ethernet
IEEE 802.3, Ethernet II
-40 to +50 C (operational)
-40 to +70 C (storage)

43
3.3 Customer Premise Equipment

The Ripwave CPE is the customer premise modem that communicates with the BTS to provide
high-speed wireless access. The CPE unit, shown in Figure 3.3 below, consists of an analog
(RF) side and a digital (DSP) side, which are both packaged in a 4.5 x 2 x 4 part that weighs 9
ounces with the optional battery installed.

Figure 3.3: Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) [32]

The CPE comes with an optional 1800-mAh Li-Ion battery that allows the end user to be
nomadic, connected to the Internet anywhere there is sufficient RF coverage. But the Navini
CPE is not mobile, since there is no soft handoff from cell to cell [31].

The data sheet of the CPE is given in [33] and the key parameters are summarized in Table 3.2
below.

44
 Table 3.2: Key CPE Data

Operational Frequency Band
Multiple Access Scheme
Duplex Format
Total Signal Bandwidth
Number of Carriers
Antennas
Uplink/Downlink Duplex
Spreading Spectrum Scheme
Baseband Modulation
Data Rates
Output Power
Average Coverage
Forward Error Correction
LAN Interfaces
Temperature
MMDS, ISM, WCS, WLL, PCS, UNII bands
Multi-carrier synchronous CDMA
Time Division Duplexing (TDD)
2 MHz contiguous
4
Single Omni and 2 patch directional antennas
TDD with a maximum 3:1 ratio for down/up time slots
Direct Sequence Spreading (DSS)
QPSK, 8PSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM
Up to 9.6 Mbps (max raw data rate)
32 dBm EIRP
31 dBm EIRP (2.4 GHz ISM band)
Up to 80 sq. km (5 km radius)
Up to 29 sq. km (3 km radius) 2.4 GHz ISM band
Reed Solomon (RS)
Ethernet or USB
+5 to +40 C (operational)
-40 to +70 C (storage)

3.4 Field Trials

The system under test, depicted in Figure 3.4 below, was tested in Dallas by Navini Networks in
July 2001 in the 2.4 GHz unlicensed band. This section presents a summary of the experiment
results.

45
 Figure 3.4: Ripwave System Under Test [34]

In Figure 3.4, EMS refers to the Element Management System that is responsible for monitoring
and configuring the CPEs and BTS. The RFS is located on a 64 ft. transmission tower.

3.4.1 Downlink Beamforming

For the downlink beamforming test, the objective was to test the gain of using all eight RFS
smart antennas versus any single one on the forward link. The test method was to compare the
receiver power at the CPE when the BTS transmitted with only one antenna and then with all
eight antennas. This technique is only applicable for locations that were within the coverage
range of one antenna with no beamforming gain. The locations of tests, along with sample
beamforming gains, are illustrated in Figure 3.5 below.

46
 Figure 3.5: Locations for Downlink Beamforming Test [34]

Figure 3.6 summarizes the distribution of the CPE results during the drive testing. In the figure,
the percentage of the data samples that fall within a certain beamforming gain are showng.

Figure 3.6: Distribution of Downlink Beamforming Gains [34]

47
In Figure 3.6, the beamforming gain (x-axis) refers to the gain of using eight transmitting
antennas versus one. Both the average and instantaneous beamforming gains are shown in the
figure. It can be observed that the average downlink beamforming gain was roughly 21 dB and
the minimum gain was 18 dB. The raw data (not shown) also reveal that 92% of the non-line-of-
sight (NLOS) locations had a downlink beamforming gain of 18 dB or better [34].

These results are consistent with what theory predicts. If the average transmission power at each
antenna is P and the number of antennas is N, the received signal strength at the CPE is P x N2
on average. So with eight transmitting antennas, the received signal power should be 64 times
(or 18 dB) higher on average than with one antenna. The CPE receiver uses a selection diversity
antenna system with three branches. This results in an additional 2.6 dB of gain [35]. So, that
gives an average total theoretical gain of 20.6 dB. This is consistent with the 18 dB average gain
seen with Navinis adaptive beamforming algorithms in the experiment above.

3.4.2 Uplink Beamforming

For the uplink beamforming test, the objective was to test the gain of using all eight RFS smart
antennas versus any single one on the reverse link. The test method was to compare the CPE
transmitter power required at the CPE when the BTS received signals with only one antenna and
then with all eight antennas. This technique is only applicable for locations that were within the
coverage range of one receiving antenna with no beamforming gain. The following graph
illustrates the uplink beamforming gain results.

48
 Figure 3.7: Uplink Beamforming Gain [34]

Figure 3.7 shows the CPE transmission power needed when different antenna elements are
switched on. The following table summarizes the results seen in Figure 3.7.

Table 3.3: Summary of Uplink Beamforming Gains

Only Only Only Only Only Only Only Only All 8

Ant. 1 Ant. 2 Ant. 3 Ant. 4 Ant. 5 Ant. 6 Ant. 7 Ant. 8 Ants.
CPE Tx
Power 1.6 5.3 12.0 8.2 8.6 6.1 6.3 -0.8 -5.5
(dBm)
All 8 Gain
over Single 7.1 10.8 17.5 13.7 14.1 11.6 11.8 4.7 N/A
Ant. (dB)

49
As can be determined from Table 3.3, the average uplink beamforming gain was 11.4 dB, with
the highest gain being 17.5 dB. The average CPE transmit power is proportional to the BTS
receiver sensitivity, which increases proportionally to the log of the number of antennas. So with
eight receiving antenna elements, the theoretical average gain should be 9 dB over a single
antenna. There is a 2.4 dB discrepancy between the 9 dB theoretical gain and the 11.45 dB
observed gain because the theoretical gain has not taken into account the diversity gain at the
BTS due to multiple antennas.

3.4.3 Uplink Carrier-to-Interference Ratio (CIR)

For the uplink carrier-to-interference ratio test, the objective was to test the amount of
interference a CPE could tolerate while still being able to send a strong enough signal to the
BTS. The test method was to first establish a link between the BTS and CPE. Then, interference
was generated through the use of a second CPE. The interference level was slowly increased and
the degradation of the primary CPE (in terms of received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the BTS
was recorded. The following graph illustrates the degradation of the received SNR for four
independent tests.

50
 Figure 3.8: Uplink SNR vs. I/C [34]

As can be seen by Figure 3.8, an interference level of over 25 dB still results in a S/N of greater
than 10.5 dB at the BTS (a 10.5 dB S/N is needed to demodulate a QPSK signal at an
uncorrected BER of 1 x 10-3 for the Ripwave system [36]). The interfering CPE can output 25
dB more power before the system stops responding. This is directly due to the synchronicity of
the uplink signals and thus being able to take advantage of the smart antennas. It should also be
noted that this test is highly sensitive to the placing of the units.

3.4.4 Downlink Carrier-to-Interference Ratio (CIR)

For the downlink carrier-to-interference ratio test, the objective was to test the amount of
interference a CPE could tolerate from another base station (other than the one it is linked with)
while still being able to demodulate the signal. The test method was to first place the primary
CPE at a location with equal path loss to both the base stations. Then a link was established
between the CPE and the primary BTS. Afterwards, a link was established between the

51
secondary CPE (at another location) and the secondary BTS. Then, the power of the secondary
BTS was raised and the SNR of the primary CPE was observed. This was repeated at multiple
locations. Figure 3.9 shows the locations of the base stations and the test sites.

Figure 3.9: Location of Test Sites for Downlink CIR Test [34]

The following graph illustrates the degradation of the received SNR at the primary CPE versus
the level of interference caused by the secondary BTS (at seven different locations).

52
 Figure 3.10: Downlink SNR vs. I/C [34]

In the figure above, the aligned interference locations are sites 6 and 4, and the non-aligned
interference locations are sites 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8 (see Figure 3.9). As can be seen by Figure 3.10,
the aligned interference sites can tolerate an I/C of 15 dB while maintaining an SNR of 10.5 dB.
Meanwhile, the non-aligned interference sites can tolerate an I/C of 38 dB while maintaining an
SNR of 10.5 dB. Aligned interference sites refer to those where the interfering carriers,
modulation schemes, etc., are phase coherent with the desired signal. Non-aligned interference
sites are those where there is no coherence between the interferer CPE and the local CPE.

3.4.5 Download Data Rates

For the download data rate tests, the system was operated in the asymmetric 3:1 TDD timing
mode using QPSK. With this modulation scheme and TDD assignment, the peak download data
rate per CPE is 2.4 Mbps (calculation shown in Appendix A). However, only 2.5 CPEs can be

53
accommodated per base station per time at this data rate if using the full bandwidth allowed per
CPE and the full spreading factor of 32. Figure 3.11 below shows the data from the download
test results.

Figure 3.11: Download Data Rates [34]

As can be seen by Figure 3.11, the peak data rates are exactly 2.4 Mbps as calculated above. The
lower data rates arise due to greater path losses with increasing distance. When there is more
path loss, the signal strength drops and so a reduction in noise bandwidth is needed to offset the
path loss. Therefore, the data rate has to be lowered to still produce a signal that can be
demodulated with a BER of 10-3. Since we are more concerned with path loss over distance
(since different places within the cell radius and within the home itself will cause different
losses), we can take an average data rate of 1 Mbps and create a downlink power budget. This
power budget is shown in Table 3.4 below.

54
 Table 3.4: Link Budget for 1 Mbps QPSK Downlink Signal

Parameters Value Comments

BTS Parameters
Output power (avg.) from one RF
port of a BTS for 5MHz (dBm)
Antenna gain (dBi)
Antenna array beamforming gain
(dB)
RFS Loss (dB)
PA output power for each RF port. Product is
capable of 37.0dBm. 34.0 dBm is to meet FCC
34.0 limit of 36.0dBm peak EIRP.
8.0 Gain of omni-directional antenna.
Beamforming gain of 8 antennas without adding
any additional diversity gain due to multiple
18.0 antennas
-3

Cable /connector loss (dB) -9 Assuming 130-ft LMR400 cable

Adjustment for One Code Channel 10*log(1/320); there are 320 total code channels
(dB) -25.1 in the 5 MHz BTS
Effective total power for one code Assuming the worst-case scenario, i.e., all the
channel (dBm) 22.9 active users on the edge of the cell.

CPE Parameters
Antenna gain (dB) 4.0 Average Gain of CPE antennas
Gain due to selection diversity
Diversity gain (dB) 2.6 operation
Receiver noise figure (dB) 8.0 Noise figure of CPE
Thermal noise density (dBm/Hz) -174.3 Thermal noise density at room temperature
Rx thermal noise power for 500kHz
(dBHz) 57.0 500kHz Noise Bandwidth
CDMA spreading gain (dB) 15.1 Spreading gain of 32-chip code
Required for 10-3 BER for QPSK before Reed-
Required SNR for QPSK (dB) 10.5 Solomon encoding
Required signal level at Rx (dBm) -120.5 Required signal strength at the CPE antenna

Margins & Factors

Log Normal Shadow/Penetration
(dB) 6.0 Blocking of neighboring trees and houses
In-building penetration (dB) 12.0 For a typical residence home
Total Margins & Factors (dB) 18.0

Maximum downlink path loss with Total Power per code channel - Required Signal
margins (dB) 125.4 Level - Margins

55
As can be seen from Table 3.4, the maximum downlink path loss allowed is 125.4 dB for a 1
Mbps QPSK signal. Since this signal is going from outdoors to indoors (and possibly through
different walls/floors within the house), the path loss exponent can vary between 2 and 6 [37].
Therefore, there is no clear relationship between the 125.4 dB allowed path loss and distance. If
it were just free space, then at 2.4 GHz, this path loss would be more than enough to traverse the
entire 3 km cell radius.

3.4.6 Upload Data Rates

For the upload data rate tests, the system was operated in the symmetric 1:1 TDD timing mode
using QPSK. With this modulation scheme and TDD assignment, the peak upload data rate per
CPE is 1.6 Mbps (calculation shown in Appendix A). Figure 3.12 below shows the data from the
upload test results.

Figure 3.12: Upload Data Rates [34]

56
As can be seen by Figure 3.12, the peak data rates are exactly 1.6 Mbps as calculated above.
When there is more path loss, the signal strength drops and so a reduction in noise bandwidth is
needed to offset the path loss. Therefore, the data rate has to be lowered to still produce a signal
that can be demodulated with a BER of 10-3. Since we are more concerned with path loss over
distance (since different places within the cell radius and within the home itself will cause
different losses), we can take an average data rate of 700 kbps and create a downlink power
budget. This power budget is shown in Table 3.5 below.

57
 Table 3.5: Link Budget for 1 Mbps QPSK Uplink Signal

Parameters Value Comments

CPE Parameters
CPE Tx power (dBm) 31.0
Antenna gain (dBi) 4.0
Diversity gain (dB) 2.6
Adjustment for One
Code-Channel (dB) -18.1
Effective TX power per
code channel (dBm) 19.5
Output power to the CPE antenna
Average Gain of CPE antennas (omni)
Gain due to diversity operation
10*log(1/64); there are 64 total code channels in the 2 MHz
CPE

BTS Parameters
Antenna gain (dBi) 8.0 Gain of omni-directional antenna
RFS/Cable loss (dB) 0.0 Due to tower top LNA
Beamforming gain of 8 antennas without adding any
Beamforming gain (dB) 9.0 additional diversity gain due to multiple antennas
Receiver noise figure Noise figure of the BTS tower top LNA and Rcvr. Includes
(dB) 5.0 loss to LNA.
Thermal noise density
(dBm/Hz) -174.3 Thermal noise density at room temperature
Rx noise bandwidth
(dBHz) 57.0 Thermal noise density + noise figure
CDMA spreading gain
(dB) 15.1 Spreading gain of 32-chip code
Required for 10-3 BER for QPSK before Reed-Solomon
SNR for QPSK (dB) 10.5 decoding
Required average signal
level at the BTS antennas
(dBm) -133.9 Required average signal strength at the BTS antennas

Margins & Factors

Log Normal
Shadow/Penetration (dB) 6.0 Blocking of neighboring trees and houses
In-building penetration
(dB) 12.0 For a typical residence home
Total Margins &
Factors (dB) 18.0

Maximum uplink path

loss with margins and Total Power per code channel - Required Signal Level -
factors (dB) 135.4 Margins

58
As can be seen by Table 3.5, the maximum uplink path loss allowed is 135.4 dB for a 750 kbps
QPSK signal.

3.5 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter described Navinis Ripwave system. The system operates in the 2.4
GHz ISM band and can function in either the symmetric or asymmetric TDD mode. The
maximum downstream channel size is 5 MHz (ten 500 kHz subcarriers) and the maximum
upstream channel size is 2 MHz (four 500 kHz subcarriers). Each subcarrier contains 32 Walsh
code channels and only one CPE is assigned per code channel in order to take advantage of the
32-chip spreading factor (for a processing gain of 15 dB). The maximum number of CPEs that
can be accommodated by one BTS is 320, with each having a total data rate of 25 kbps using
QPSK. The maximum download rate than can be achieved by a CPE is 7.2 Mbps using 64-
QAM and 3:1 asymmetric TDD timing.

The downlink beamforming test was consistent with theory and proved that with eight BTS
antennas, an 18 dB downlink beamforming gain was possible. The uplink beamforming test was
also consistent with theory and proved that with eight BTS antennas, a 9 dB uplink gain was
possible. The uplink CIR test showed that an interference level of over 25 dB still resulted in a
S/N of greater than 10.5 dB at the BTS. This was due to the synchronicity of the uplink signals
and thus being able to take advantage of the smart antennas. The downlink CIR test showed that
an aligned interference level of 15 dB and a non-aligned interference level of 38 dB resulted in a
S/N of greater than 10.5 dB at the BTS. The download data rate test proved the maximum bit
rate of 2.4 Mbps (using QPSK and 3:1 TDD) and the upload data rate test proved the maximum
bit rate of 1.6 Mbps (using QPSK and 1:1 TDD). The maximum allowed path loss for the
downlink is 125.4 dB and 135.4 dB for the uplink.

59
Chapter 4

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) was proposed as a possible air interface
standard for 3G communications by the Beta group of the ETSI. OFDM is a special case of
multicarrier transmission, where a single datastream is transmitted over a number of lower rate
subcarriers. In actuality, OFDM can be seen as either a modulation technique or a multiplexing
technique. OFDM is conceptually very simple, but the implementation relies on very high speed
digital signal processing (DSP) that has only recently become available at a price that makes
OFDM a competitive technology. In practice, some of the carriers in OFDM are used for
channel estimation and extra bits exist for error detection and correction. Doing this is called
Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM). However, doing this is so
fundamentally common that most sources (including this one) drop the C and just assume
coding is used.

4.1 OFDM Basic Principles

A basic idea of OFDM is to divide the available spectrum into many narrowband, lower-data-
rate carriers (subcarriers). To obtain high spectral efficiency, spectra are overlapping and the

60
time domain waveforms are orthogonal. Each narrowband subcarrier is modulated using various
modulation formats such as quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude
modulation (QAM). Figure 4.1 displays the difference between the conventional nonoverlapping
multicarrier technique and the overlapping multicarrier modulation technique used in OFDM.

Figure 4.1: Concept of Multicarrier Modulation Techniques

As can be seen in Figure 4.1, by using the overlapping multicarrier modulation technique, half of
the bandwidth is conserved. However, to realize the overlapping technique, crosstalk between
the subcarriers needs to be reduced and, thus, orthogonality preserved. The orthogonality of the
carriers means that each carrier has an integer number of cycles in a symbol period. This implies
that the carriers are all synchronized in time and that their frequencies are integer multiples of a
common factor. Consequently, the spectrum of each carrier has a null at the center frequency of
each of the other carriers in the system. An example of OFDM spectra is shown in Figure 4.2
below.

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 Figure 4.2: OFDM Spectra

Orthogonality eliminates interference between the carriers (crosstalk) and allows the carriers in
an OFDM signal to be arranged in a manner where the sidebands of the individual carriers
overlap (as shown above). This overcomes the problem of overhead carrier spacing (and guard
bands) required in FDMA (see Chapter 1). Therefore, if a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is
used at the receiver and correlation values with the center frequency of each subcarrier are
calculated, the transmitted data can be recovered with no crosstalk. In addition, using the DFT,
frequency division multiplexing (FDM) is achieved by baseband processing instead of bandpass
filtering. This is a huge advantage in the number of complex DSP operations and processing
time. In actuality, the fast Fourier transform (FFT), an efficient implementation of the DFT, is
used at the transmitter and receiver to reduce the number of operations from N2 in DFT to NlogN
[38].

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4.2 OFDM Generation

An OFDM signal consists of a sum of subcarriers that are modulated using PSK or QAM. If
using complex QAM symbols, the equivalent complex baseband notation of an OFDM symbol
can be written as:

(Ns/2) - 1

s(t) = (di + Ns/2 )exp(j2(i/t)[t-ts]), ts < t < ts + T

i = -Ns/2

s(t) = 0, t < ts ^ t > ts + T

where Ns is the number of subcarriers, T the symbol duration, di the complex QAM symbols, t
the time, and ts the OFDM symbol starting time.

Figure 4.3 shows the operation of an OFDM modulator in a block diagram.

Figure 4.3: OFDM Modulator [38]

63
As an example, Figure 4.4 shows the generation of five subcarriers into an OFDM signal. In this
example, all subcarriers have the same amplitude and phase, but this does not have to be the case
(and usually is not).

Figure 4.4: Simplified Presentation of an OFDM Signal [39]

Each subcarrier in Figure 4.4 has an exact integer number of cycles in the interval T and the
number of cycles between adjacent subcarriers differs by exactly one. This property accounts for
the orthogonality between the subcarriers.

In actuality, OFDM is generated by choosing the spectrum required, based on the input data, and
the modulation scheme used. Each carrier to be produced is then assigned data to transmit and
the required amplitude and phase of the carrier are calculated based on the type of modulation.
The required spectrum is then converted back to the time domain using an inverse FFT (IFFT).
In the receiver, the opposite is done the FFT transforms a cyclic time domain signal into its
equivalent frequency domain spectrum. This is done by finding the equivalent waveform, which
is generated as a sum of orthogonal sinusoidal components. The amplitudes and phases of the

64
components constitute the frequency spectrum. Therefore, a simplified block diagram of an
OFDM transceiver may look like the one in Figure 4.5.

Figure 4.5: Simplified OFDM Transceiver

4.2.1 Cyclic Extension

One of the most important properties of OFDM transmissions is the robustness against multipath
delay spread. Dividing the input data stream into N subcarriers makes the symbol duration N
times longer, which reduces the relative multipath delay spread, relative to symbol time, by the
same amount [38]. The level of robustness can be increased even more (to eliminate ISI almost
completely) by adding a guard period between the transmitted symbols. The guard period allows
time for multipath signals from the pervious symbol to die out before the information from the
current symbol is gathered. Therefore, the guard time is chosen larger than the expected delay
spread. To eliminate ICI, the guard period is chosen to be a cyclic extension of the symbol. This
ensures that delayed versions of the OFDM symbol still have an integer number of cycles in the
FFT interval. Therefore, multipath signals with smaller delays (smaller than the guard time)
cannot cause ICI. Using the cyclic extended symbol, the samples required for the FFT can be
taken anywhere over the length of the symbol. This provides symbol time synchronization
tolerance as well as multipath immunity.

65
4.2.2 Coding

As with any digital wireless channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding is used to lower the
bit error rate (BER). Only convolutional coding is applied in the case of BER = 10-3. The
convolutional coding rates change according to the different services. Rates from to 1 can be
chosen so that the entire system will be able to reuse as much of the decoding hardware as
possible. After convolutional coding, interleaving is used. Because of the frequency selective
fading of typical radio channels, the OFDM subcarriers usually have different amplitudes. Deep
fades in the frequency spectrum may cause groups of subcarriers to be less reliable than others
thereby causing bit errors in bursts. Most FEC codes are not designed to deal with error bursts
and so interleaving is applied to randomize the occurrence of bit errors prior to decoding.

For services requiring a BER = 10-6, a concatenated code scheme such as Reed-Solomon (RS) or
outer interleaving and convolutional coding could be used. The outer interleaver is necessary to
break the error burst at the output of the Viterbi decoder. This is needed in addition to the inner
interleaver for breaking the error bursts due to fading [21]. Alternatively, turbo coding could be
applied.

4.2.3 Synchronization

Before an OFDM receiver can demodulate the subcarriers, it has to find out where the symbol
boundaries are and what the optimal timing instants (sampling points) are to reduce the effects of
ICI. Also, the receiver has to estimate and correct for any offset on the carrier frequency of the
received signal (also to reduce ICI). In an OFDM link, the subcarriers are orthogonal only if the
transmitter and receiver operate at the same frequencies. Any frequency offset immediately
leads to ICI in the receiver. Phase noise also causes a similar problem a practical oscillator
does not produce a carrier at exactly one frequency, but rather a carrier that is phase modulated
by random phase jitter. As a result, the frequency (since it is the derivative of phase) is never
constant and leads to ICI. OFDM is more robust to timing errors, but to achieve the best possible

66
multipath robustness, there exists an optimal timing instant. Any deviation from this optimal
sampling point leads to an increase of sensitivity due to delay spread, which, in turn, leads to a
less robust system. Therefore, synchronization issues are more important in OFDM and must be
dealt with. There are many methods to achieve synchronization in an OFDM system, such as via
the cyclic prefix or through special training sequences, but that is beyond the scope of this paper.
Specifically, [38], [40], [41], [43], [44], and [45] talk about the effects of frequency, phase, and
timing errors and how to deal with them effectively (and reduce their effects).

4.2.4 Signal Detection

Knowledge about the reference phase and amplitude of the constellation on each subcarrier is
needed to estimate the bits at the receiver. In general, frequency offset, timing offset, and
frequency selective fading can cause random phase shifts and amplitude changes in the
constellation of each subcarrier. Coherent detection and differential detection are two methods
to compensate for the random phase shift and amplitude change.

Coherent detection uses estimates of the reference amplitudes and phases to determine the best
possible decision boundaries for the constellation of each subcarrier. The main concern with
coherent detection is determining a method to find the reference values without introducing too
much overhead with respect to training symbols. Differential detection looks at the phase and
amplitude differences between two symbols. It can be done both in the time domain and in the
frequency domain. In the time domain, differential detection compares each subsymbol with the
subsymbol on the same subcarrier of the previous OFDM symbol, as depicted in Figure 4.6
below. In the frequency domain, each subcarrier is compared with the adjacent subcarrier within
the same OFDM symbol [38]. Several estimation and detection techniques exist and are covered
in numerous papers such as [38], [40], and [45] among others.

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 Figure 4.6: Differential Detection in the Frequency and Time Domains [38]

4.2.5 OFDM System

Figure 4.7 shows the basic block diagram of a complete OFDM modem, where the upper path is
the transmitter course and the lower path is the receiver chain.

68
 Figure 4.7: OFDM Transceiver [38]

Due to the different types of media that are going to be sent over 3G communication systems, the
upstream and downstream block diagrams can be application specific. Figures 4.8 and 4.9 show
the downstream block diagrams and Figures 4.10 and 4.11 show the upstream block diagrams.

Figure 4.8: Downstream Encoding and Modulation [46]

69
Figure 4.9: Downstream Demodulation and Decoding [46]

Figure 4.10: Uplink Encoding and Modulation [46]

Figure 4.11: Uplink Demodulation and Decoding [46]

70
4.3 OFDM Varieties

With a number of vendors competing for airtime, OFDMs supporters have divided into two
factions: the Broadband Wireless Internet Forum (BWIF) and the OFDM forum. Led by Cisco
Systems, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom, BWIF backs and has developed a specification for
Vector OFDM (VOFDM). Led by Wi-LAN, the OFDM forum has developed another type of
OFDM Wideband OFDM (WOFDM). Finally, Flarion Technologies, a spin-off from Lucent,
has developed a spread spectrum technology referred to as Flash OFDM [47]. This paper is
primarily concerned with BWIFs VOFDM, but brief descriptions of WOFDM and Flash OFDM
are listed below for completeness. Henceforth, the rest of the thesis will focus only on VOFDM.

4.3.1 Vector OFDM (VOFDM)

The key to Vector OFDM is the concept of multiple input, multiple output (MIMO). By using
spatial diversity, a wireless systems tolerance to noise, interference, and multipath can be
greatly increased. Vector OFDM can deliver multiple signals on a single antenna or receive
them on multiple antennas. This increases the likelihood of a good signal being received. By
placing two or more antennas in a wireless system with each having a different set of multipath
signals, the effects of each channel will vary from one antenna to the next. Thus, channels
unusable on one antenna may prove to be acceptable on another antenna. Figure 4.12 illustrates
the idea of MIMO as applied to VOFDM. Antenna spacing is at least ten times the wavelength
[48].

71
 Figure 4.12: MIMO for VOFDM [47]

Vector OFDM will be discussed in much more detail in Section 4.4.

4.3.2 Wideband OFDM (WOFDM)

In Wideband OFDM, the spacing between the channels is large enough so that any frequency
errors between the transmitter and receiver have no effect on the performance of the system.
WOFDM allows several independent channels to operate within the same band. This creates an
overlay of low-power, multipoint radio networks and point-to-point backbone systems [47]. The
basic block diagram of the WOFDM transceiver can be seen in Figure 4.13 below.

Figure 4.13: WOFDM Transceiver [49]

72
WOFDM overcomes the problem of multipath by sending training symbols. Specifically, six
training symbols are added to the data stream. The first five symbols are used to estimate the
channel transfer function, and the inverse is applied to every OFDM frame to compensate for the
channel. The other key to WOFDM is the signal whitener. The signal whitener reduces the peak
to average power ratio that must pass through the radio amplifiers and the A/D converters. The
WOFDM symbol is pre-whitened, which means that it is multiplied by a vector of complex
values, R that is known to the transmitter and receiver. All values in R have unity amplitude and
phases are selected so that the average power level of the resulting transmitted signal varies less
than without doing this operation [49]. There are many different vectors that can be used for R
so this can be used to add a security feature to the system [49].

4.3.3 Flash OFDM

Flash OFDM is often referred to as a fast-hopped spread spectrum version of OFDM. It uses
multiple tones and fast hopping to spread signals over a given spectrum band. Figure 4.14 shows
the basic idea behind Flash OFDM.

Figure 4.14: Flash OFDM Principle [50]

73
4.4 Vector OFDM Details

This section will go deeper into the details of BWIFs Vector OFDM (VOFDM). The basic idea
behind VOFDM is to combine OFDM with spatial processing so that diversity in frequency,
time, and space are all exploited. VOFDM is indeed a cost-optimized implementation of the
MIMO technology. Figure 4.15 shows a high-level block diagram of a MIMO VOFDM system
and Figure 4.16 shows an example of such a system at work.

Figure 4.15: VOFDM System (showing MIMO technology) [51]

Figure 4.16: VOFDM Experiment with Two Antennas [51]

74
Antenna diversity will be expanded on later in this chapter. Next, Figures 4.17 and 4.18 show
the specific VOFDM transmit and receive system block diagrams respectively.

Figure 4.17: VOFDM Transmitter Block Diagram [52]

Figure 4.18: VOFDM Receiver Block Diagram [52]

All of the following features are implemented in VOFDM:

1. Dynamically programmable data rates and the delay spread tolerance.

2. Optimum burst-mode training approaches (for channel estimation).
3. Timing and frequency synchronization.
4. Spatial processing (for interference cancellation).
5. Convolutional and Reed-Solomon coding.
6. Soft Viterbi decoding.

4.4.1 Upstream

First, we will compare upstream transmissions in the burst mode in a MMDS channel using
VOFDM and single carrier modulation (SCM). Experiments for such an MMDS channel using

75
16-QAM and a s delay spread were carried out in [51] in terms of Codeword Error Rate
(CER) and are shown in Figure 4.19 below.

Figure 4.19: Upstream Performance Comparison of VODFM and SCM [51]

The antenna outputs are combined using Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SINR) combining for the
dual antenna VOFDM system and a Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) is used for SCM. SINR
combining refers to combining the individual S/I ratios from each antenna element. The
equalizer for a single antenna system has 31 taps in its feedforward portion and five taps in its
feedback portion. When dual antennas are employed, two feedforward equalizers of 31 taps each
are combined to feed a 5-tap feedback equalizer with decision feedback. In general, the
VOFDM system provides more capacity since, in order to operate at the same CER, single
carrier modulation either needs more coding or more SNR. As can be seen by Figure 4.19, for a
CER of 10-4, the single antenna VOFDM system is infinitely better than the single antenna SCM
system and 1 dB better than the dual antenna SCM system. For the same CER, the dual antenna
VOFDM system is 6 dB better than its single antenna counter part and 7 dB better than the dual
antenna SCM system.

76
4.4.2 Downstream

Experiments in [51] were also done for VOFDM and SCM in continuous carrier demodulation
(downstream). The SCM system equalizer uses a fully adapted equalizer that utilizes the Lease
Mean Squares (LMS) algorithm. The VOFDM system uses interference cancellation whereas
SCM employs optimum space-time equalization. A 2/3-rate convolutional code along with a
(252,232) RS code is used for both systems. Results of the simulation can be seen in [51], but
again, the VOFDM system outperforms the SCM system in all regards.

4.4.3 Transmit Diversity

Transmit diversity in a VOFDM system can be used either on the uplink or on the downlink.
Transmit diversity uses a second transmit antenna, and reduces the required fading margin by
exploiting the lack of correlation between fast fading that each path encounters.

To employ transmit diversity, dual-receivers, a signal modifier, and a second analog chain are
needed. In some scenarios, the channel will have such little delay spread that the signals from
the two antennas could arrive at 180 degrees out of phase across the entire frequency band.
Therefore, a signal modifier is used on one of the transmit antennas to fix this problem. Signal
modifiers could constitute a pure delay element, a magnitude response modifier, and a phase
response modifier. Figure 4.20 shows the simulation results carried out in [52] corresponding to
transmit diversity.

77
 Figure 4.20: Simulation Results for Transmit Diversity [52]

As can be seen by Figure 4.20, transmit diversity results in a significant improvement in the CER
for a given SNR.

4.4.4 Receive Diversity

Receive diversity in a VOFDM system also provides a significant advantage over SCM
technique. A system using only one antenna must employ a larger fade margin. The effects of a
larger fade margin are demonstrated in [51]. Since the channel fades on each antenna (of a
MIMO system), the mean SNR is chosen to incorporate a fade margin. The fade margin is
designed in [51] to accommodate fades that yield 99.99% reliability. The single antenna SCM
system in [51] requires roughly a 21 dB larger mean SNR than the dual antenna OFDM system,
at a CER of 10-4. This translates directly to spectral efficiency.

78
An M cell by N sector frequency plan has a spectral efficiency per area proportional to 1/(MN).
However, the smaller the MN, the lower the average carrier-to-interference (C/I) ratio the plan
can deliver. Studies show that a 3-cell by 3-sector system provides 32.5 dB of C/I for a 90%
availability [51]. Therefore, a dual antenna VOFDM system studied could support such a
frequency reuse plan with 90% availability and an outage probability of 99.99%. Conversely,
the single antenna SCM system requires 54 dB of C/I, which translates to 12-19 cells for the
same outage probability and availability.

4.4.5 Complexity

In fact, VOFDM is actually less complex to employ than decision feedback equalization. Figure
4.21 shows that VOFDM exhibits a log linear computational complexity, whereas DFE exhibits
a quadratic computational complexity. Computational complexity refers to the number of
complex multiply-accumulate operations per second that need to be computed for a given data
rate.

Figure 4.21: VOFDM and DFE Complexity [52]

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4.5 Summary

In conclusion, the basic concepts of OFDM have been described in this chapter. Basically,
OFDM is a special case of multicarrier transmission, where a single datastream is transmitted
over a number of lower rate subcarriers. In actuality, OFDM can be seen as either a modulation
technique or a multiplexing technique. A block diagram of a complete OFDM system was also
given in Figure 4.7 above. Finally, the different varieties of OFDM Vector, Wideband, and
Flash were described. The rest of this thesis will focus on Vector OFDM (VOFDM) and its
comparison to synchronous CDMA for fixed broadband wireless systems.

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Chapter 5

TD-SCDMA Versus OFDM

The previous chapters addressed the possibility of using third generation (3G) mobile cellular
wireless systems as the basis for fixed broadband wireless service. In particular, this thesis has
examined synchronous CDMA and OFDM. This chapter will compare and contrast the Navini
TD-SCDMA and BWIF VOFDM systems as viable broadband access technologies. It will
compare different Media Access Control (MAC) layer issues as well as physical layer issues like
duplexing strategies, spectral efficiency, coverage, and nonlinearities. Finally, it will draw
general conclusions about which system performs better.

5.1 Duplexing Strategies

At this point it should be clear that VOFDM duplexes in the frequency domain (FDD) and TD-
SCDMA does so in the time domain (TDD). Both have implications that we will explore in this
section. There are four basic things to consider: implementing FDD guard bands, TDD system
timing, hardware implications, and frequency reuse.

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5.1.1 FDD Guard Bands

In the front ends of both an FDD and a TDD transceiver, the transmitter and receiver typically
share the same antenna. For an FDD system, this requires a coupled pair of RF filters known as
a duplexer. The transmit portion of the duplexer suppresses transmitter spurious signals in the
receive spectrum and the receive portion suppresses the high power transmit signal to prevent the
LNA from being overloaded. The duplexer requires high Q (sharp RF cutoffs) filters and
therefore becomes moderately expensive. Also, the transmit and receive bands cannot be
contiguous and, therefore, a guard band is needed between them. Sometimes, the guard band is
described as wasted spectrum. However, by employing a scheme like OFDM, the size of the
guard band needed can be minimized. In a network with multiple links, separated by moderate
distances, one link may use a frequency that falls in another links guard band so that no
frequencies are wasted.

A TDD system can operate anywhere since no guard bands are necessary. However, regulations
like the FCC often make frequency allocations with FDD in mind. An example of this is for the
WCS band shown in Figure 5.1 below.

Figure 5.1: WCS Band (Blocks A and B are FDD Pairs)

In WCS, A and B are allocated as FDD frequency pairs and the presence of a guard band is no
longer an issue. In this case, TDD may actually be at a disadvantage since building a TDD
transceiver to operate in two noncontiguous frequency bands with significant separation is not
trivial.

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However this is not always the case. It is not a consideration in the MMDS band for example.
The MMDS band can be broken up into four groups, and FDD can be made to operate in these
bands without wasting any spectrum (explained below). The MMDS band and the partitioning
into four groups are illustrated in Figure 5.2 below.

Figure 5.2: MMDS Band

Two sets of transmit and receive bands can be made from these four groups without wasting any
spectrum. In the first set, Group 1 can be used for downlink and Group 3 can be used for uplink.
Similarly, in the second set, Group 2 can be used for downlink and Group 4 for uplink. This
makes Group 2 the guard band for the first set, and Group 3 the guard band for the second set.

Also, a TDD system may not completely avoid needing sharp cutoff filters. Since MMDS
operators plan to co-locate their bands at existing Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS)
or Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) sites, they have limited control over adjacent channel
interference and antenna configurations [53]. Due to limited antenna spacing and non-ideal
filtering, a high-level of isolation between the adjacent channel transmitters and receivers is very
difficult to provide without a guard band. Furthermore, a dynamic adaptive TDD system
requires a guard band separating each transceiver channel unless the transceivers are operated in
a fixed frame mode (coordinated mode), which significantly decreases spectral efficiency [53].

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5.1.2 TDD System Timing

One important feature of TDD systems is their recognized performance advantages over FDD
systems when transporting bursty data like Internet traffic. Furthermore, TDD can accommodate
any asymmetric traffic dynamically, as offered by Navinis TD-SCDMA system. FDD has a
static ratio between the transmit and receive data rates and cannot easily change it. A dynamic
load balancing is difficult to implement in wireless networks.

In a wireless network, base station antennas are located as high above ground as possible to
increase coverage. As a result, the base stations are often in line-of-sight of each other (since
they are each above the tree and roof line). In a TDD system, this requires the transmit and
receive cycles of different base stations to be synchronized. Otherwise, co-channel interference
from a neighboring base station can interfere with the uplink transmission from CPEs in a cell.
This can happen even if the two base stations do not directly face each other, since the leaked
back-propagation from the same sector can engulf signals of the local CPE due to the
propagation characteristics of LOS connections versus NLOS [12]. This phenomenon is
illustrated in Figure 5.2.5 below.

Figure 5.2.5: Back-Propagation Between LOS Base Stations [53]

This requirement for synchronization effectively cancels out the dynamic load balancing
advantage of TDD. When all the transmit and receive intervals for all the LOS base stations

84
have to be synchronous, the transmit and receive periods at a given base station can no longer be
dynamically changed due to local traffic characteristics.

The synchronicity required between base stations also necessitates guard times between the
transmit and receive cycles. This guard interval is necessary so that the transmit signal from a
distant base station will die out before the receive period begins. This way, the base station can
listen to the CPE units in its cell without co-channel interference. The guard time is set to be
equal to the propagation time between the two LOS base stations. For a typical cellular
frequency reuse plan, two base stations that employ the same frequency are usually 10 - 25 miles
apart. This corresponds to a 50 125 s propagation time that should be also used as the guard
time. Due to delay considerations, there is a limit on the order of 1 ms on the frame size [53].
Therefore this 50 125 s guard time leads to a 5 12.5% loss in efficiency for TDD. FDD
systems have the same issue with wasted spectrum due to imperfect filters. Similarly, the CPE
units can also generate CCI to force transmit and receive cycle synchronization and guard times.
Even if there is no interference from other cells, there is still a guard time required to allow for
upstream propagation time. If the cell radius is about 5 miles, then the guard time is an
additional 25 s.

5.1.3 Hardware Implications

A TDD system operates as either a transmitter or a receiver at a given time. This enables the
sharing of the local oscillators, amplifiers, and some filters. On, the other hand, this sharing
requires transfer switches, which can offset the system cost savings achieved by sharing
components. Furthermore, maintaining proper timing of these switches is not trivial.

Consider a TDD system and an FDD system operating at the same data rate. Since the receiver
of the TDD system is operational half of the time that the FDD system is, the TDD signal
occupies twice the bandwidth (although the average occupied bandwidth is the same).
Therefore, the noise power at the TDD receiver is twice as high as in an FDD receiver. Thus, for
equivalent conditions, the SNR for a TDD system is 3 dB worse than that of an FDD system. As

85
a result, the FDD system has approximately 3 dB more receiver sensitivity (unless the average
transmitter power in both systems is the same). The receiver sensitivity difference is actually
more than 3 dB since the transfer switches add about a 1 dB of insertion loss [53]. (A duplexer
in an FDD system adds a 3 dB insertion loss). Furthermore, since a TDD system operates at
twice the bandwidth, there is more spectral regrowth (increase of adjacent channel interference
caused by an increase of transmission power) or sideband regrowth. The power difference
between the TDD and FDD systems is 3 dB since the power spectral density levels are the same
while the bandwidth changes by a factor of two. This results in an approximately 3 dB larger
output power backoff. The total effect of these factors is summarized in Table 5.1 below.

Table 5.1: TDD and FDD System Loss Comparison

Parameter TDD Loss Amount FDD Loss Amount

Bandwidth -3 dB
Transfer Switch -2 dB
Duplexer - 3 dB
Power Backoff - 3 dB
Total - 8 dB - 3 dB

The net effects summarized in the table give FDD a 5 dB net SNR advantage over TDD.
However, this is not entirely true. For a given channel bandwidth and a given delay spread,
doubling the system bandwidth can improve the reliability of the channel by increasing
frequency diversity. For example, a TDD link using two contiguous MMDS channels to form a
12 MHz RF channel can produce a 3 dB improvement in system gain over a FDD link using a
noncontiguous pair of 6 MHz MMDS channels [53]. This reduces the overall net for FDD (as
far as hardware in concerned) to only 2 dB.

Next, the sampling rates for ADCs and DACs are halved in FDD. This reduces the cost, power
consumption, and enables higher interpolation/decimation ratios. Since the sampling rate is
doubled with TDD, the equalizer length for QAM is also doubled. This leads to a doubling of
the symbol rate and thus, the number of operations per second goes up by four. Similarly, in
OFDM, increasing the sampling rate doubles the number of samples corresponding to the delay
spread. This now requires an FFT of size 2N as opposed to size N.

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5.1.4 Frequency Reuse

Systems using dynamic adaptive TDD (ATDD), such as the Ripwave system, improve spectral
efficiency in many LOS cases, but have harsh frequency reuse and Carrier-to-Interference Ratio
(CIR) penalties when used for NLOS situations [53]. In a cellular system with similar cell sizes,
the co-channel interference (CCI) is a function of the cell radius, R, and the distance to the center
of the nearest cell, D. Increasing the D/R ratio increases the separation between co-channel cells
and consequently, reduces the CCI. However, the channel reuse factor and overall system
capacity are reduced when the D/R ratio is increased. Therefore, tradeoffs need to be made.

FDD systems utilize different transmit frequencies for the base stations and CPE units. The
worst-case potential interference for an FDD system is CPE transmitters in neighboring co-
channel base station cells interfering with transmissions from the local CPE sites. An example
potential interference scenario is shown in Figure 5.3 below, where a CPE transmitter in Cell B
is interfering with a CPE transmission in Cell A.

Figure 5.3: FDD Interference Scenario

This example can be extended to the 4x3 reuse pattern diagram illustrated in Figure 5.4 below.

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 Figure 5.4: 4x3 Reuse Pattern and Tier 1, 2, and 3 Interferers

The worst-case co-channel SIR for an FDD system, using a 4x3 reuse pattern and directional
CPE antennas, can be calculated as follows:

SIR = 10*log [r-4 / {2(d1+r)-4 + 4G(d1+r)-4 + 3(d2+r)-4 + 3G(d2+r)-4 + 2(d3+r)-4 + 4G(d3+r)-4}],

where d1 = distance from tier 1 interferer, d2 = distance from tier 2 interferer, d3 = distance from
tier 3 interferer, G is a constant equal to the inverse of the joint antenna discrimination, (ant)-1
= 1/1000, and r = the cell radius (5 miles). The joint antenna discrimination, ant, for a 120
sector base station antenna and a planar 20 CPE antenna is typically 1000 (30 dB) and has been
assumed for the analysis. The path exponent of 4 results from NLOS being assumed between the
base station site and the neighboring co-channel CPE sites. Therefore, the worst case SIR can be
calculated to be 21.7 dB.

TDD systems use the same transmit frequency for both the base station and CPE sites. ATDD
uses traffic-adaptive time slots, rather than fixed time slots, for upstream and downstream
transmissions. ATDD systems do not coordinate base station and CPE transmissions between
co-channel cells, and so the local BTS site is subject to interference from both neighboring co-
channel BTS and CPE transmitters. The worst-case co-channel interference for an NLOS ATDD
system can be shown to be the BTS transmitters in neighboring BTS cells interfering with

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transmissions from the local CPE sites. Figure 5.5 below, shows interference from the co-
channel transmission in Cell B interfering with a CPE transmission in Cell A.

Figure 5.5: ATDD Interference Scenario

The co-channel calculation for an ATDD system includes both LOS elements (path loss
exponent = 2) and NLOS elements (path loss exponent = 3 to 4). For these calculations, the
power loss formula given in [37] will be used:

Pr = P0(d / d0)-n,

where Pr is the received power at a distance and P0 is the power received at a distance d0 from the
transmitter. The distance d0 is used in large-scale propagation models as the close-in distance.
However, we will be using it as the interception distance, where the path loss slope changes from
LOS to NLOS [53]. The interception distance, also known as the reference point, must be
chosen such that it lies in the far-field region and d0 is chosen to be smaller than any practical
distance used in the communication system. The reference distance for practical systems using
low-gain antennas in the 1-2 GHz region is typically chosen to be 100 m or 1 km in the outdoor
environments [37]. This concept is illustrated in Figure 5.6 below.

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 Figure 5.6: LOS and NLOS Power Loss Formulation [54]

Subsequently, the worst-case co-channel SIR can be calculated for a 4x3 reuse pattern that is
calculated below. NLOS propagation is assumed between the CPE and associated base station;
LOS propagation is assumed between the three tiers of co-channel base station sites.

SIR = 10*log [(r/r0)-4 / {6G(d1/ r0)-2 + 6G(d2/ r0) -2 + 6G(d3/ r0) -2}] = -1.1 dB,

where d1 = distance from tier 1 interferer, d2 = distance from tier 2 interferer, d3 = distance from
tier 3 interferer, G is the inverse of the joint antenna discrimination, (ant)-1 = 1/1000, r = the
cell radius (5 miles), and r0 is the interception radius. To achieve an SIR of 20 dB, the distance,
d, would have to equal 196 miles (with a cell radius of 5 miles).

Therefore, it can be shown that frequency reuse is less effective in NLOS systems.
Consequently, the spectral efficiency of an uncoordinated ATDD system can be shown to be
significantly less than that of an FDD system in a typical MMDS or UNII system [53].

5.2 Coverage

Although CPEs with indoor antennas, such as the ones for general TD-SCDMA CPEs, are very
attractive from the viewpoint of reducing the installation effort, they are at a disadvantage in

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terms of coverage area and data rate. The system impact as the CPE outdoor antenna is
progressively moved to easier installation configurations from the rooftop to a portable indoor
unit with a low-gain antenna is shown in Table 5.2 below. The table also lists the parameters
that are modified as the antenna is moved.

Table 5.2: Antenna Configuration Results [54]

In the table above, SU refers to Subscriber Unit (otherwise known as the CPE). The fade
margin assumes a Rayleigh fading channel. The indoor portable unit is assumed to only have
one broad-beam low-gain antenna. From [37], 12 dB is an average value for building
penetration loss and 6 dB for window penetration loss. The indoor portable CPE antennas fade
margin will be 5 dB higher because it does not have a diversity receiver. The Navini system
actually performs a little better, since it has an omnidirectional antenna and two directional patch
antennas that it switches between every 10 ms and selects the best signal. This receiver diversity
distinguishes the Ripwave from other TD-SCDMA systems. The receiver diversity lowers the
fade margin of the Ripwave system back to 5 dB (the margin used for the other antenna
configurations in Table 5.2).

Experiments in [54] illustrate the downstream performance of each type of CPE antenna and the
results are shown in Figure 5.7 below.

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 Figure 5.7: Downstream Performance with Different CPE Antennas [54]

The indoor portable CPE is only able to achieve the highest data rate of 19.2 Mbps at a range of
500 meters, and the lowest data rate of 1.1 Mbps at a range of only 1.4 km. Again, the Navini
system will perform a little better than the indoor omni since it has 3-element receiver diversity.
However, the results seen in Figure 5.7 are consistent with the results seen with the Ripwave
system in Chapter 3. It was shown in Chapter 3 that the Ripwave system achieves a data rate of
1.1 Mbps at a range of 4.4 km and a data rate of 2 Mbps at about 1.5 km. With the rooftop
antenna arrangement, the CPE can achieve a range of 13 km with a 1.1 Mbps data rate, and 4.7
km at a data rate of 19.2 Mbps.

This directly leads to a penalty in coverage and rollout costs for indoor omnidirectional antennas.
Since the area relates to the radius squared, the drastically reduced ranges lead to a substantial
increase in infrastructure costs. For example, Table 5.3 shows the number of cells (and hence
the number of base stations) that would be necessary to provide 2.0 Mbps downstream to a
3,000-km2 area.

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 Table 5.3: Cells Needed for Different Antenna Configurations

Install Type Cell Radius (km) Cell Area (km2) Total Cells
Rooftop 12 452.4 7
Under-the-Eve 9.67 293.8 10
Indoor-Windowsill 4.5 63.6 47
Indoor-Omni 1.5 7.1 422

As can be seen by the table, the infrastructure costs for an indoor omnidirectional CPE antenna
are 60 times higher than for a rooftop antenna, and 40 times higher than under-the-eave antennas.
The Ripwave cell radius is on the order of the indoor-omni cell radius, therefore the total cells
are on the same order as well. Using omnidirectional antennas also reduces capacity; this will be
discussed in the next section.

5.3 Capacity

The previous section discussed performance based on C/N the coverage limited case.
However, tolerance to self-interference dictates the system capacity since the allowable
interference level sets the frequency reuse pattern. The portable indoor CPE with an
omnidirectional antenna, which is used in most synchronous CDMA systems, will receive
interference from other cells in all directions. This mandates a much higher frequency reuse
ratio and significantly lowers system capacity.

The expression for the frequency reuse factor with a three-sector cell, directional base station
antennas, and an omnidirectional CPE antenna is given in [54] as

N = (1/3)[(C/I) * (3.9 + 7.7 * 2-)](2/), (5.1)

where (C/I) is the carrier-to-interference ratio (not in dB) and is the path loss exponent.
Similarly, for a CPE with a dual-channel 20 receiver (as used in VOFDM), the same three-

93
sector cell, and directional base station antennas, the resulting expression for the frequency reuse
factor is given in [54] as

N = (1/3)[(C/I) * (0.4 + 1.6 * 2-)](2/). (5.2)

With these two equations, the increase in frequency reuse, which corresponds to a decrease in
capacity, can be calculated

Experiments in [54] that use the same 7.4 Mbps downstream data mode show that a mean (C/I)
of 12 dB for a diversity directional receiver and 20 dB for a single omnidirectional receiver is
required. Since the indoor CPE only has a single antenna and lacks a diversity combiner, the
required C/I is 8 dB higher than the directional antennas [54]. As a result, with = 4.4 in
Equation 5.3, the capacity per base station of a system with directional CPEs is six times greater
than a system with omnidirectional CPE antennas [54]. The Ripwave systems use of transmit
beamforming (with eight antenna elements) and 3-element receiver diversity results in a huge C/I
advantage over the omnidirectional TD-SCDMA case. As seen in Chapter 3, the aligned
interference sites can tolerate an I/C of 15 dB while maintaining an SNR of 10.5 dB.
Meanwhile, the non-aligned interference sites can tolerate an I/C of 38 dB while maintaining an
SNR of 10.5 dB.

Furthermore, Figure 5.8 below illustrates the coverage probability as a function of C/I with
omnidirectional CPE antennas and different frequency reuse patterns.

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 Figure 5.8: CDF of C/I with Omnidirectional CPE Antennas [54]

In the figure, the different curves represent the different frequency reuse patterns that can be
used. A log-normal shadow fading with a standard deviation of 8 dB and macrodiveristy are
incorporated in the simulation. Macrodiversity enables a CPE to communicate with the fixed
network by more than one radio link, i.e. a CPE can send/receive information towards/from more
than one base station. Assuming the same C/I requirement of 20 dB from the previous section, it
can be seen from the figure above, that even with a 4x3 frequency reuse pattern, only a little
above 80% of the cell would be covered.

Similarly, Figure 5.9 illustrates the coverage probability as a function of C/I with diversity
directional 20 half power beamwidth (HPBW) CPE antennas as used in VOFDM systems.

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 Figure 5.9: CDF of C/I with 20 Directional CPE Antennas [54]

In this case, with a 20 dB C/I requirement, complete cell coverage can be obtained with any
reuse pattern greater than 1x1. Actually, a required C/I of 12 dB suffices for complete cell
coverage for all the cases except for a reuse factor of 1.

The Ripwave system is also able to use a frequency reuse factor of 1 because of its superb CIR
performance as shown in Chapter 3.

5.4 Spectral Efficiency

The efficiencies of CDMA systems were simulated in [55]. The quality of the system is dictated
by the level of the required Signal-to-Interference ratio (SIR). Since a CDMA system is
typically designed with a frequency reuse of one, the system is interference limited. Therefore,

96
increasing the required SIR means that there is less interference, which reduces the efficiency of
the system. In Figure 5.10 below, efficiency is taken to be the number of simultaneous active
users divided by the available channels.

Figure 5.10: Spectral Efficiency of Synchronous CDMA [55]

The results from Figure 5.10 can now be extended to the fixed broadband wireless case. For
example, TD-SCDMA uses QPSK with two-bits/symbol efficiency and -rate convolutional
encoding. The required Eb/No for TD-SCDMA systems using block turbo codes are given in
[56] as 3.5 dB for QPSK, 5.5 dB for 8-PSK, and 6.5 dB for 16-QAM.

SIR = (Eb/No) + 10log [(bits/symbol)*code rate]

= 3.5 + 10log [2 * (1/2)] = 3.5 dB.

Using Figure 5.10, an SIR of 3.5 dB yields an efficiency of 0.35. To meet the out-of-band
emission requirements, a spectral shaping factor of 1.2 is employed. Now the spectral efficiency
(b/s/Hz) can be calculated

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 Spectral Efficiency = (efficiency) (bits/symbol) (code rate) (spectral shaping)-1
= (0.35) (2) (1/2) (1.2)-1 = 0.29.

This analysis was extended to the different modulation schemes of TD-SCDMA and the results
are presented in Table 5.4 below.

Table 5.4: Spectral Efficiencies of TD-SCDMA

System
Normalized
Eb/No Coding Spectral Efficiency Spectral
Modulation Bits/Symbol SIR
(dB) Rate Shaping (users/channel) Efficiency
(dB)
(bits/sec/Hz)
QPSK 2 3.5 0.5 1.2 3.5 0.35 0.29
8-PSK 3 5.5 0.5 1.2 7.3 0.15 0.19
16-QAM 4 6.5 0.5 1.2 9.5 0.08 0.13

For example, lets take the maximum 6-to-1 downlink-to-uplink TDD ratio that can be used with
TD-SCDMA (see Chapter 2). This can accommodate a traffic scenario where the downlink
requires twelve times the throughput as the uplink by using a frame structure where there are 6
downlink slots using 16-QAM and 1 uplink slot using QPSK (and a switching point). The
following table summarizes the data rates that would be seen for such a frame structure given
different processing gains and a chip rate of 1.28 Mchip/s.

Table 5.5: Data Rates for TD-SCDMA Using 6 Downlink Slots and 1 Uplink Slot

Downlink Information Uplink Information

Processing Gain
Rate (DIR) Rate (UIR)
(Spreading Factor)
(6 slots, 16 QAM) (1 slot, QPSK)
1 1.6896 Mbps 0.1408 Mbps
2 0.8448 Mbps 0.0704 Mbps
4 0.4224 Mbps 0.0352 Mbps
8 0.2112 Mbps 0.0176 Mbps
16 0.1056 Mbps 0.0088 Mbps

In the table above, each time slot is 675 s and there are 281,600 information bits per second in
each time slot [Chapter 2]. Therefore, the Uplink/Downlink Information Rates are calculated as

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 DIR = (Timeslot Information Rate) (# of slots for downlink)
= (281,600 bps) (6) = 1.6896 Mbps, and

UIR = [(DIR) / (Downlink Throughput)] (Uplink Throughput)

= [(1.6896 Mbps) / (12)] (1) = 0.1408 Mbps.

For fixed broadband wireless, we are mostly concerned with low spreading factors to provide
higher data rates. High data rates have little or no processing gain for signal separation from
interferers. Now the spectral efficiency of TD-SCDMA with a spreading factor of 1 can be
calculated (all values marked with a * are taken from Chapter 2).

Table 5.6: TD-SCDMA Coded Efficiency Calculations

The Frame Efficiency is calculated by

Frame Efficiency = [(Burst Length) (Slots/Frame)] / [Subframe Length]

= [(6.75E-04) (7)] / [5E-03] = 0.945.

The Usable Symbol Rate is calculated by

Usable Symbol Rate = [(Data Symbols/Burst) (Frame Efficiency)] / [Burst Length]

= [(704) (0.945)] / [6.75E-04] = 985600 symbols/sec.

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The Efficiency is calculated by

Efficiency = Usable Symbol Rate / Bandwidth

= 985600 / 1.60E+06 = 0.62 .

Note that the rates and spectral efficiencies calculated above are based only on the frame
structure of TD-SCDMA (and are independent of Figure 5.10). Since the there is little or no
processing gain, this is now equivalent to a completely TDMA system. As explained in Chapter
2, for serial transmission of high bit rate data, TDMA transmission without spreading is applied
in the TD-SCDMA frame structure [20]. Thus, it requires TDMA frequency reuse factors.
Therefore, the spectral efficiency calculated above would have to be reduced by the reuse factor
(since it is not 1).

The required single-channel unfaded SIR for the different modulation schemes of TD-SCDMA
were calculated in Table 5.4 and are summarized in Table 5.7 below.

Table 5.7: Required C/I for TD-SCDMA (Using Block Turbo Codes)

Mode Required SIR

QPSK 3.5 dB
8-PSK 7.3 dB
16-QAM 9.5 dB

When using these modes in a real environment, a fade margin of 10 dB (from Table 5.2) must be
added to each of the required C/I figures. Then, using these new C/I numbers with Figure 5.8
and a 90% coverage probability, the frequency reuse factors can be determined. Afterwards, the
system spectral efficiencies can also be determined by reducing the original efficiencies by the
reuse factor. These calculations are summarized in Table 5.8 below.

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 Table 5.8: Spectral Efficiency Calculations

System
Spectral Required CIR
Modulation Frequency Spectral
Mode Efficiency (fading case)
(bits/symbol) Reuse Factor Efficiency
(bits/sec/Hz) (dB)
(bits/sec/Hz)
QPSK 2 0.62 13.5 7 0.09
8-PSK 3 0.93 17.3 12 [54] 0.08
16-QAM 4 1.24 19.5 > 12 [54] < 0.10

For each mode, the Spectral Efficiency is calculated by

Spectral Efficiency = Coded Spectral Efficiency (from Table 5.6) * Modulation

= (0.31) * (bits/symbol).

The System Spectral Efficiency is calculated by

System Spectral Efficiency = Spectral Efficiency / Frequency Reuse Factor.

The Navini Ripwave system would perform better than this omnidirectional TD-SCDMA system
since its fade margin would only be 5 dB (instead of 10 dB). However, it uses Reed-Solomon
coding instead of block turbo coding. Therefore, the required Eb/No and required SIR would be
higher for each modulation scheme. Also, the Ripwave system uses a spreading factor of 32
since it operates in the 2.4 GHz band (in the ISM band, high transmit powers are not permitted,
so higher received power must be realized through processing gain) as explained in Chapter 3.
Therefore, its data rate and spectral efficiency will be lower. It can achieve high data rates
(comparable to VOFDM) but at a cost of the limited number of CPEs one base station can
support at these high data rates.

Similarly, the required single-channel unfaded C/I for the different modes of VOFDM were
calculated in [54] and are listed in the table below.

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 Table 5.9: Required C/I for VOFDM

Mode Required C/I

5.7 Mbps 8 dB
8.5 Mbps 13 dB
7.4 Mbps 13 dB
22 Mbps 24 dB

When using these modes in a real environment, a fade margin of 5 dB (Table 5.2) and a -3 dB
adjustment for the number of receiver channels must be added to the required C/I figures (since
the noise bandwidth is reduced by a factor of two for FDD systems). Then, using these new C/I
numbers with Figure 5.9 and a 90% coverage probability, the frequency reuse factors can be
determined. Afterwards, the system spectral efficiencies can also be determined by reducing the
original efficiencies by the reuse factor. These calculations are summarized in Table 5.10 below.

Table 5.10: Spectral Efficiency Calculations

It should be noted that 6 MHz is the proposed channel bandwidth for VOFDM systems.
Therefore, it can be seen that the VOFDM system provides better than ten times the spectral
efficiency as compared to TD-SCDMA for high data-rate applications.

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5.5 Beamforming Versus Diversity

Spatial diversity techniques improve the performance of wireless systems. This section
compares two such techniques: transmit beamforming, as employed by TD-SCDMA, and
transmit diversity, as employed by VOFDM.

First of all, receive processing operations are similar for both beamforming and diversity.
However, both the Ripwave and BWIF VOFDM systems use selection receive diversity, where
the receiver just chooses the branch that has the strongest signal power. As stated in Chapter 3,
the three-element receiver diversity in the Ripwave system improves the average carrier-to-noise
(C/N) ratio by 2.6 dB.

Now, we will compare two-element transmit diversity and transmit beamforming. Figure 5.11
below shows the effective gain for a diversity transmitter operating in a flat unfading channel
against a single element antenna. In this simple case, two transmitters at maximum power are
used. The signal for the second antenna is a delayed version of the first one. This creates a small
amount of delay spread, which is then removed by the VOFDM receiver. The delay diversity
prevents coherent signal interference from the two transmitters. As a result, the signal received
is 3 dB higher than in the one transmitter case.

Figure 5.11: Transmit Diversity EIRP Gain [54]

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The next figure shows the gain that can be achieved by transmit beamforming over a flat
unfading channel. Navinis Ripwave TD-SCDMA system uses transmit beamforming. In this
case, two power amplifiers (PA) are transmitting and their signals are sent to transmit antennas
spaced 10 wavelengths apart. As a result, the resulting antenna array pattern has 40 lobes and if
the signals arrive at the same phase, the gain over a single antenna using a single PA is 6 dB
[54].

Figure 5.12: Transmit Beamforming EIRP Gain [54]

This comparison in the idealized case indicates that transmit beamforming has a 3 dB advantage
over transmit diversity (with two elements). However, this advantage is at the price of using two
power amplifiers.

However, in real-world scenarios, the idealized flat unfading channel characteristics will not
hold. Experiments were done in [54] that simulated a field deployment using a 64-QAM signal
over a 6 MHz bandwidth (6 MHz was chosen since it is the channel bandwidth for VOFDM
systems). Tap magnitudes of 0 dB, -5 dB, and 10 dB and tap delays of 0 s, 0.5 s, and 1.0 s
were used for the simulated channel. Each tap was simulated as the summation of 50 sinusoids
with random phase and random frequency. A delay diversity of 0.33 s was used for the
transmit diversity case, and the transmit beamforming case used phase-shift beamforming to

104
maximize the resulting receiver power. Figure 5.13 shows a plot of the relative received power
over time for the three transmission schemes.

Figure 5.13: Relative Received Power for TX Diversity and TX Beamforming

Overall, slightly more gain is achieved by the transmit beamforming case. However, both the
diversity and beamforming methods are effective during the deep fade seen at 43 s (each
provides over a 20 dB gain). Table 5.11 summarizes the gain obtained from transmit diversity
and beamforming over a single channel (as seen in Figure 5.12).

Table 5.11: Relative Gains of TX Diversity and TX Beamforming

Transmission Type .999 Fade RX Power .999 Fade Gain Over Single Antenna
Single Antenna -12.9 dB N/A
Transmit Diversity -5.7 dB 7.2 dB
Transmit Beamforming -4 dB 8.9 dB

As seen by the table, for three-nines (99.9% or 0.999) fades, transmit diversity achieves a 7.2 dB
gain, while transmit beamforming achieves an 8.9 dB gain over a single antenna system. The
difference is now 1.7 dB, and not 3 dB as seen in the idealized case.

105
Also, the gain in transmit beamforming could be further increased if the number of antennas in
the system were increased. However, there are the practical limitations of cost and wind loading
that caps the number of antennas that can be used. This proves that transmit beamforming, as
employed by the Navini system, is a powerful tool for circuit-switched TDD applications.
However, for packet-switched applications (data transfers), there are implementation limitations
for transmit beamforming. This will be discussed in the next section.

5.6 Throughput and Packets (MAC Layer Issues)

TD-SCDMA uses the MAC layer from the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) TDD mode
proposal [16]. As explained in Chapter 2, TD-SCDMA is a hybrid of TDMA and CDMA, in
which users can be multiplexed in either the time or code domain. TD-SCDMA also provides a
reservation-based packet transport protocol. A resource request message is sent prior to
transmission, and the physical channel is allocated depending on the nature of the traffic. The
allocations can be permanent, based on a set time, or based on the amount of data. Reservations
are sent in the random access channel (RACH). In the case of a collision, a request is
retransmitted after a random backoff time, which is a multiple of 10 ms. (This is controlled by
the MAC.)

VOFDM, on the other hand, uses the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
(DOCSIS). In DOCSIS, access to the upstream channel is controlled via a backoff window set
by the headend. This includes both the initial transmission of a request and any retransmissions
caused by collisions. The headend controls the initial access to the contention slot by setting an
initial backoff window. The station then randomly selects a number within its backoff window
[57].

Simulations to quantify the MAC layer efficiency of the TD-SCDMA system compared with the
performance of DOCSIS/VOFDM system are described in [54]. The same channel bandwidth
and the same reservation based scheduling algorithms were assumed for both systems. Also, all

106
packet transmissions were non-persistent and retransmissions were based on binary exponential
backoff. The traffic sources were variable length packets with exponential interarrival times
intended to model variable length IP traffic. Figure 5.14 below shows the throughput-delay
curves obtained by the simulations in [54].

Figure 5.14: Uplink Throughput of TD-SCDMA and DOCSIS/VOFDM [54]

As can be seen from Figure 5.14, using the VOFDM physical layer settings, the
DOCSIS/VOFDM system outperforms the TD-SCDMA system. For example, for a 100 ms
delay, the maximum uplink throughput of TD-SCDMA is limited to 35%, while that of
DOCSIS/VOFDM is 80%. This is due to the limited contention region in TD-SCDMA [54].
Since TD-SCDMAs channel rates are lower than VOFDM, the delay degradation is even worse
and available user rates are much lower, when using TD-SCDMAs physical layer settings. As
can be seen from the leftmost curve in Figure 5.14, the maximum uplink throughput of TD-
SCDMA at 100 ms is only 20%.

107
The second major issue is the impact of transmit beamforming on the MAC layer of TD-
SCDMA. Directing an antenna beam to a particular CPE means that one of more of the other
users will not receive sufficient power to demodulate their respective received signals. This
means that transmit beamforming limits IP multicasting and IP broadcasting services. One
solution is to not use transmit beamforming when these services are to be used, but this has
obvious disadvantages.

5.7 Channel Impairments

The performance of both VOFDM and TD-SCDMA will deteriorate under non-ideal conditions.
This section will look at their respective performances under multipath, noise, and nonlinearities.

5.7.1 Multipath

OFDM systems are specifically intended to be robust with respect to multipath propagation.
This is even more true when a cyclic prefix is included that is at least as long as the multipath
delay spread. VOFDM actually specifies training signals for the purpose of estimating the
multipath channel coefficients. The number of training signals is directly equal to the size of the
cyclic prefix. Experiments carried out by AT&T Labs, Motorola, Sprint, and Cisco have never
indicated a delay spread larger than 3 s, even though the VOFDM system is designed to tolerate
up to 7 s. Thus, VOFDMs multipath performance appears to be excellent.

For a given system, the maximum delay spread that can be tolerated by the VOFDM receiver is
less than the cyclic prefix length. So, to increase the resistance to delay spread, we must increase
the prefix length. However, this increases the overall system overhead. So, to keep everything
constant, the VOFDM burst size also has to be increased by the same proportion. This has the
adverse effect of increasing the sensitivity of the system to timing, frequency, or phase errors.

108
So, to avoid increasing the prefix length, VOFDM systems use directional antennas at the CPE
end to reduce the delay spread.

On the other hand, TD-SCDMA has no restrictions on the length of delay spread that can be
tolerated. However, every CDMA system uses a rake receiver with N fingers to coherently
detect and combine a maximum of N different received signal paths. Thus, the rake receiver
limits the number of paths that can be combined. On the other hand, VOFDM estimates the
multipath frequency response so the energy from all the paths within the delay spread limit is
taken into account. So, when the multipath channel is composed of more than N distinct paths,
the CDMA system only uses a portion of the received signal energy for detection. This can lead
to a worse performance than VOFDM under the same circumstances since the unused portion of
the signal will act as interference. Furthermore, each different path acts as interference for other
paths in a CDMA system. This interference can become significant if the CDMA signal is
transmitted over many code channels or if the spreading factor is small (as it is for the fixed
broadband case). On the other hand, VOFDM does not suffer from multipath self-interference
[54].

5.7.2 Frequency Offset, Phase Noise, and Timing Errors

Since an OFDM system, such as the BWIF VOFDM, detects and processes the signal in the
frequency domain, it is very sensitive to frequency offsets and phase noise. Furthermore, as the
OFDM burst rate decreases, the sensitivity increases [41]. There are a lot of inexpensive
solutions to reduce frequency-offset errors and suppress the phase noise for OFDM presented in
[40], [41], [43], [44], [45], and others. These algorithms are beyond the scope of this thesis, but
it is important to note that there are inexpensive solutions to help alleviate the problems caused
by frequency offset and phase noise in an OFDM system. CDMA systems, including the Navini
TD-SCDMA Ripwave, are very tolerant of frequency offsets as long as the offset is smaller than
the symbol rate [24]. CDMA systems are also more tolerant of phase noise than OFDM systems,
even though phase noise can disturb the orthogonality of the spreading codes [24].

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In the same way that OFDM is more sensitive to frequency errors, CDMA is more sensitive to
timing errors and jitter since the detection and processing of the signal is accomplished in the
time domain. Again algorithms exist to alleviate these problems and are presented in [58] among
others, but go beyond the scope of this thesis.

A further disadvantage of operating in the time domain (other than sensitivity to timing offsets)
for TD-SCDMA is that the equalization, interference rejection, and nonlinearity suppression
algorithms have to operate in the time domain as well. This means that all the operations involve
convolutions, which make the tasks a lot more complex than the multiplications and divisions
needed in VOFDM (since it operates in the frequency domain).

5.7.3 Impulse Noise

Impulse noise in the time domain is the dual of narrowband interference in the frequency
domain. OFDM spreads the energy of an impulse noise over a burst, which means that the
average noise level slightly increases over a burst instead of a few symbols being totally lost.
CDMA, on the other hand, absorbs the impulse noise energy over a few symbols that will be lost.
For high data rate applications, such as fixed broadband wireless systems, this will increase the
BER even with coding and interleaving. For high data-rate OFDM systems, the symbol interval
is much shorter than the average impulse noise interval and the average narrowband interference
bandwidth is also much smaller than the OFDM burst rate.

5.7.4 Peak-to-Average Power Ratio

One of the biggest disadvantages of OFDM is its high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). An
OFDM signal consists of a number of independently modulated subcarriers, which can give a
large PAPR when added coherently. The high PAPR is caused by the summation of many
sinusoids in the transmitted waveform. The resulting time-domain waveform has a probability
distribution that is nearly Gaussian [42]. When N signals are added with the same phase, they

110
produce a peak power that is N times the average power. The peak power is defined as the
power of a sine wave with an amplitude equal to the maximum envelope value [38]. A high
PAPR means that the transmitter RF power amplifier needs to have an operating point with
adequate backoff from the saturation point. If the PAPR increases, the backoff needs to be
increased by the same amount. This can severely reduce the transmitted output power.

Several reduction algorithms have been published in [38], [42], [59], and others to help alleviate
the PAPR problem, but goes beyond the scope of this thesis. For the BWIF VOFDM system, the
backoff is 10 dB without using any reduction algorithm. This is much larger than the 2 or 3 dB
backoff required for single carrier systems. In general, CDMA systems suffer from the PAPR
problem also, but is at a smaller magnitude and easier to reduce [60]. However, for high
spreading factors and a large constellation sizes, the CDMA PAPR approaches the OFDM PAPR
magnitude. However, for broadband TD-SCDMA systems, the spreading factors are low
(usually 1), so the PAPR problem is always going to be less than the OFDM case.

5.8 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter has presented a comparison between the TD-SCDMA and BWIF
VOFDM systems in the areas of duplexing, coverage, capacity, spectral efficiency, spatial
processing, throughput, and channel impairments. FDD requires guard bands and more complex
hardware, while TDD adds overhead and cannot easily provide traffic-based adaptability as
advertised. Moving the antenna indoors, as in TD-SCDMA, results in a lower cell radius and
lower data rates. Keeping the antenna outside, as in VOFDM, increases the coverage area, but at
larger installation and maintenance costs. The Navini Ripwave system uses selection diversity
with three indoor antennas (one omnidirectional and two directional) so its performance is better
than the regular TD-SCDMA portable indoor antenna. The indoor antenna also results in higher
frequency reuse factors, which reduces the system capacity. It was also shown that the VOFDM
system provides better than ten times the spectral efficiency as compared to TD-SCDMA for
high data-rate applications. Receive beamforming and receive diversity have similar processing

111
gains. Both, VOFDM and the Ripwave system use selection receiver diversity. On the other
hand, transmit beamforming, as used in TD-SCDMA, provides a 2-3 dB advantage over
VOFDMs transmit diversity. The throughput of the VOFDM system was also shown to be
greater than that of the TD-SCDMA system for variable-length IP packets. VOFDM was also
shown to perform better under multipath conditions. Finally, OFDM systems take a huge hit for
amplifier nonlinearity, frequency offsets, and phase noise errors.

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Chapter 6

Conclusions

The objective of the work in this thesis was to present the 3G standards of Time Division
Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) and Vector Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing (VOFDM) in the context of fixed broadband wireless access. The basic
technologies of synchronous CDMA and OFDM were discussed, along with an example TD-
SCDMA system: Navinis Ripwave 2400. Afterwards, the VOFDM and TD-SCDMA systems
field tests or simulations were reported and analyzed. This chapter summarizes those results.

6.1 The Ripwave System

Navini Networks Ripwave 2400 system operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and can function in
either the symmetric or asymmetric TDD mode. The maximum downstream channel size is 5
MHz (ten 500 kHz subcarriers) and the maximum upstream channel size is 2 MHz (four 500 kHz
subcarriers). Each subcarrier contains 32 Walsh code channels and only one CPE is assigned per
code channel to take advantage of the 32-chip spreading factor (for a processing gain of 15 dB).
The maximum number of CPEs that can be accommodated by one BTS is 320, with each having

113
a total data rate of 25 kbps using QPSK. The maximum download rate than can be achieved by a
CPE is 7.2 Mbps using 64-QAM and 3:1 asymmetric TDD timing.

The downlink beamforming test was consistent with theory and proved that with eight BTS
antennas, an 18 dB downlink beamforming gain was possible. The uplink beamforming test was
also consistent with theory and proved that with eight BTS antennas, a 9 dB uplink gain was
possible. The uplink CIR test showed that an interference level of over 25 dB still resulted in a
S/N of greater than 10.5 dB at the BTS. This was due to the synchronicity of the uplink signals
and consequent ability to take advantage of the smart antennas. The downlink CIR test showed
that an aligned interference level of 15 dB and a non-aligned interference level of 38 dB resulted
in a S/N of greater than 10.5 dB at the BTS. The download data rate test verified the maximum
bit rate of 2.4 Mbps (using QPSK and 3:1 TDD) and the upload data rate test verified the
maximum bit rate of 1.6 Mbps (using QPSK and 1:1 TDD). The maximum allowed path loss for
the downlink is 125.4 dB and 135.4 dB for the uplink.

6.2 Comparison of TD-SCDMA and VOFDM

TD-SCDMA and VOFDM systems differ in the aspects of duplexing, coverage, capacity,
spectral efficiency, beamforming and diversity, throughput, and channel impairments such as
multipath, noise, and nonlinearities.

6.2.1 Duplexing

While OFDM achieves duplexing in the frequency domain (FDD), TD-SCDMA does so in the
time domain (TDD). FDD requires guard bands and more complex hardware (such as a
duplexer), while TDD adds overhead (guard times and packet headers) and cannot easily provide
the traffic-based adaptability that manufacturers advertise.

114
Since the base stations are often in line of sight of each other, the transmit and receive cycles of
different base stations to be synchronized (otherwise co-channel interference from a neighboring
base station can interfere with the uplink transmission from CPEs in a cell). This requirement
for synchronization effectively cancels out the dynamic load balancing advantage of TDD.
When all the transmit and receive intervals for all the LOS base stations have to be synchronous,
the transmit and receive periods at a given base station can no longer be dynamically changed
due to local traffic characteristics.

Also, there are frequency reuse penalties with using TDD. The worst-case co-channel SIR for an
FDD system, using a 4x3 reuse pattern and directional CPE antennas, was calculated to be 21.7
dB. Meanwhile, since Adaptive TDD (ATDD) systems do not coordinate base station and CPE
transmissions between co-channel cells, the local BTS site is subject to interference from both
neighboring co-channel BTS and CPE transmitters. Using this assumption, the worst-case co-
channel SIR for a TDD system, using a 4x3 reuse pattern, was calculated to be 1.1 dB.

6.2.2 Coverage

Moving the antenna indoors, as in TD-SCDMA, results in a lower cell radius and lower data
rates. Keeping the antenna outside, as in VOFDM, increases the coverage area, but at larger
installation and maintenance costs. The Navini Ripwave system uses selection diversity with
three indoor antennas (one omnidirectional and two directional) so its performance is better than
the regular TD-SCDMA portable indoor antenna.

The indoor portable CPE is only able to achieve the highest data rate of 19.2 Mbps at a
maximum range of 500 meters, and the lowest data rate of 1.1 Mbps at a maximum range of only
1.4 km. The Ripwave system achieves a data rate of 1.1 Mbps at a maximum range of 4.4 km
and a data rate of 2 Mbps at about 1.5 km. With the rooftop antenna arrangement, the CPE can
achieve a maximum range of 13 km with a 1.1 Mbps data rate, and 4.7 km at a data rate of 19.2
Mbps. Thus there is a penalty in coverage and rollout costs for indoor omnidirectional antennas.

115
To provide 2.0 Mbps downstream service to a 3000-km2 area, the infrastructure costs for an
indoor omnidirectional CPE antenna are 60 times higher than for a rooftop antenna, and 40 times
higher than under-the-eave antennas. The Ripwave cell radius is on the order of the indoor-omni
cell radius so the total cells are on the same order as well.

6.2.3 Capacity

The indoor antenna also results in higher frequency reuse factors, which reduces the system
capacity. Since the indoor CPE only has a single antenna and lacks a diversity combiner, the
required C/I is 8 dB higher then the directional antennas. As a result, the capacity per base
station of a system with directional CPEs was shown to be six times greater than a system with
omnidirectional CPE antennas. Assuming a C/I requirement of 20 dB for an omni-directional
antenna system, it was shown that even with a 4x3 frequency reuse pattern, only a little above
80% of the cell would be covered. On the other hand, with the rooftop CPE antennas, and a 20
dB C/I requirement, complete cell coverage can be obtained with any reuse pattern greater than
1x1. Actually, a required C/I of 12 dB suffices for complete cell coverage for all the cases
except for a reuse factor of 1.

The Ripwave systems use of transmit beamforming (with 8 antenna elements) and 3-element
receiver diversity results in a huge C/I advantage over the omnidirectional TD-SCDMA case.
The aligned interference sites can tolerate an I/C of 15 dB while maintaining a SNR of 10.5 dB.
Meanwhile, the non-aligned interference sites can tolerate an I/C of 38 dB while maintaining an
SNR of 10.5 dB. Therefore, the Ripwave system is also able to use a frequency reuse factor of
one.

6.2.4 Spectral Efficiency

It was also shown that the VOFDM system provides better than ten times the spectral efficiency
as compared to general TD-SCDMA for high data-rate applications (since high data-rate

116
applications are burdened with using low spreading factors). The Navini Ripwave system would
perform better than this omnidirectional TD-SCDMA system since its fade margin would only
be 5 dB (instead of 10 dB). However, it uses Reed-Solomon coding instead of block turbo
coding. Therefore, the required Eb/No and required SIR would be higher (than for the turbo-
coded systems). Also, the Ripwave system uses a spreading factor of 32 since it operates in the
ISM band. Therefore, its data rate and spectral efficiency will be lower. It can achieve high data
rates (comparable to VOFDM) but at a cost of the limited number of CPEs one base station can
support at these high data rates.

6.2.5 Beamforming

Receive beamforming and receive diversity have similar processing gains. Both, VOFDM and
the Ripwave system use selection receiver diversity. On the other hand, transmit beamforming,
as used in TD-SCDMA, provides a 2-3 dB advantage over VOFDMs transmit diversity. In the
case of deep fades, transmit diversity achieves a 7.2 dB gain, while transmit beamforming
achieves an 8.9 dB gain over a single antenna system. The key advantage of transmit
beamforming is that the gain is increased for every additional antenna element. In the Ripwave
system, with eight phased-array antennas, an 18 dB downlink beamforming gain is possible.

6.2.6 Throughput

TD-SCDMA uses the MAC layer from the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) TDD mode
proposal, while VOFDM uses the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS).
Using these MAC layer protocols, the throughput of the VOFDM system was shown to be
greater than that of the TD-SCDMA system for variable-length IP packets. For example, for a
100 ms delay, the maximum uplink throughput of TD-SCDMA is limited to 35%, while that of
DOCSIS/VOFDM is 80%. Since TD-SCDMAs channel rates are lower than VOFDM, the
delay degradation is even worse and available user rates are much lower, when using TD-
SCDMAs physical layer settings.

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6.2.7 Channel Impairments

VOFDM, through the use of a cyclic prefix performs better under multipath conditions than TD-
SCDMA systems. The rake receiver, used in CDMA systems, limits the number of paths that
can be combined. On the other hand, VOFDM estimates the multipath frequency response so the
energy from all the paths within the delay spread limit is taken into account. So, when the
multipath channel is composed of more than a single distinct path, the CDMA system only uses a
portion of the received signal energy for detection. This can lead to worse performance than
VOFDM under the same circumstances since the unused portion of the signal will act as
interference. Additionally, CDMA systems can suffer from multipath self-interference while
VOFDM systems do not.

OFDM systems take a huge hit for frequency offsets and phase noise errors. In the same way
that OFDM is more sensitive to frequency errors, CDMA is more sensitive to timing errors and
jitter since the detection and processing of the signal is accomplished in the time domain.
However, inexpensive algorithms exist to alleviate each of these impairments.

Finally, one of the biggest disadvantages of OFDM is its high peak-to-average-power ratio
(PAPR), which necessitates a huge amplifier backoff. For the BWIF VOFDM system, the
backoff is 10 dB without using any reduction algorithm. This is much larger than the 2 or 3 dB
backoff required for single carrier systems. In general, CDMA systems suffer from the PAPR
problem also, but is at a smaller magnitude and easier to reduce.

6.3 Summary

In conclusion, the technologies and comparisons of TD-SCDMA and VOFDM have been
presented in this thesis. In the context of fixed broadband wireless access, there is no clear-cut

118
winner. However, as far as the important parameters of coverage (cell size) and the number of
users that can be supported at high data rates, VOFDM is superior to TD-SCDMA. However,
this is at a higher infrastructure and rollout cost. The benefits of each system are summarized in
Table 6.1 below.

Table 6.1: Benefits Summary of TD-SCDMA and VOFDM

TD-SCDMA VOFDM
Duplexing No guard bands No guard times
No extra hardware Worst case SIR (for 4x3 reuse
But, no dynamic load pattern) = 21.7 dB (23 dB
balancing better than NLOS ATDD case)
Coverage No extra installation costs for Rooftop antennas increase
CPE antennas coverage
Sixty times fewer cells needed
for 2 Mbps service for a 3000
km2 area
Capacity Six times greater capacity for
directional CPE antennas
Required C/I is 8 dB lower for
directional CPE antennas
Spectral Efficiency Ten times greater for 90% cell
coverage
Beamforming 8.9 dB deep fade gain (over 7.2 dB deep fade gain (over
single antenna element) single antenna element)
More gain with more elements
Throughput For 100 ms delay, maximum For 100 ms delay, maximum
uplink throughput is limited to uplink throughput is limited to
35% 80%
Channel Impairments Robust with respect to Robust with respect to timing
frequency offset and phase errors and jitter
noise More robust under multipath
Doesnt suffer from large conditions
PAPR
Doesnt need a large amplifier
backoff

Future work needs to be done in testing an actual hardware VOFDM system and comparing it to
TD-SCDMA systems such as Navini Networks Ripwave 2400.

119
Appendix A

Ripwave Data Rate Calculations

Maximum Number of CPEs permitted per base station:

Max # Users = Total Subcarriers per 5 MHz * Total Code Channels per Subcarrier
= 10 * 32 = 320 users

Total Data Rate of 320 Users using QPSK:

Total Symbol Rate, Rs = Bocc / (1 + )

= [(1 subcarrier * 500 kHz each) / 32 code channels] / (1 + 0.25)
= (5.625 kHz) / (1.25)
= 12.5E+03 symbols/sec

Using QPSK, Total Data Rate, Rb = 1.25E+03 * 2

= 25 kbps

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Maximum Downlink Data Rate of a CPE:

Total Symbol Rate, Rs = Bocc / (1 + )

= (4 subcarriers * 500 kHz each) / (1 + 0.25)
= (2 MHz) / (1.25)
= 1.6E+06 symbols/sec

Using 64-QAM, Total Data Rate, Rb = 1.6E+06 * 6

= 9.6 Mbps

With 3:1 TDD timing, Downlink Data Rate = (Total Data Rate / 4) * 3
= (9.6 Mbps / 4) * 3 = 7.2 Mbps

Uplink Data Rate = (Total Data Rate / 4) * 1

= (9.6 Mbps / 4) * = 2.4 Mbps

Maximum Download Data Rate for Experiment:

Total Symbol Rate, Rs = Bocc / (1 + )

= (4 subcarrier * 500 kHz each) / (1 + 0.25)
= (2 MHz) / (1.25)
= 1.6E+06 symbols/sec

Using QPSK, Total Data Rate, Rb = 1.6E+06 * 2

= 3.2 Mbps

With 3:1 TDD timing, Downlink Data Rate = (Total Data Rate / 4) * 3
= (3.2 Mbps / 4) * 3 = 2.4 Mbps

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Maximum Upload Data Rate for Experiment:

Total Symbol Rate, Rs = Bocc / (1 + )

= (4 subcarrier * 500 kHz each) / (1 + 0.25)
= (2 MHz) / (1.25)
= 1.6E+06 symbols/sec

Using QPSK, Total Data Rate, Rb = 1.6E+06 * 2

= 3.2 Mbps

With 1:1 TDD timing, Downlink Data Rate = (Total Data Rate / 2) * 1
= (3.2 Mbps / 2) * 1 = 1.6 Mbps

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Appendix B

Glossary of Acronyms

2G 2nd Generation
3G 3rd Generation
ATDD Adaptive Time Division Duplexing
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
BER Bit Error Rate
BTS Base Transmit Station
BWIF Broadband Wireless Internet Forum
CATT Chinese Academy of Telecommunications Technology
CCI Co-Channel Interference
CCPCH Common Control Physical Channel
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CIR Carrier-to-Interference Ratio
COFDM Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
CPE Customer Premise Equipment
CWTS Chinese Wireless Telecommunications Standard
DCA Dynamic Channel Allocation
DECT Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
DEMS Digital Electronic Messaging Service
DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
DIR Downlink Information Rate
DOCSIS Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
DQPSK Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

123
DS-CDMA Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access
DSP Digital Signal Processor / Digital Signal Processing
DSS Direct Sequence Spreading
DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
FDD Frequency Division Duplexing
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
FEC Forward Error Correction
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
FPC Fast Power Control
GWCS General Wireless Communications Service
IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
IMT International Mobile Telecommunications
ISI Inter-Symbol Interference
ISM Industrial, Scientific, and Medical band
ITU International Telecommunication Union
LAN Local Area Network
LMDS Local Multipoint Distribution Service
LO Local Oscillator
LOS Line of Sight
MAC Media Access Control
MAI Multiple Access Interference
MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
MMDS Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service
NF Noise Figure
NLOS Non Line of Sight
ODMA Opportunity Driven Multiple Access
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
OVSF Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor
PA Power Amplifier
PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio
PN Pseudo-random Noise
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
PSD Power Spectral Density
PSTN Public Service Telephone Network
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QOS Quality Of Service
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
RACH Random Access Channel

124
RF Radio Frequency
RFS Radio Frequency Subsystem
RMS Root Mean Square
RRC Root Raised Cosine
RS Reed Solomon
SCDMA Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access
SCM Single Carrier Modulation
SIR Signal-to-Interference Ratio
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
TDD Time Division Duplexing
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TD-SCDMA Time Division - Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access
TS Time Slot
UIR Uplink Information Rate
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
UpPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot
UT User Terminal
UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access
UWC Universal Wireless Communications
VOFDM Vector Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
WAN Wide Area Network
WBS Wireless Base Station
W-CDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
WCS Wireless Communications Service
WIMS Wireless Multimedia and Messaging Services
WOFDM Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

125
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Vita

Shital Ratilal Chheda was born in Bombay, India in 1978. He was raised in the suburbs of
Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Old Mill Senior High School in 1996. He continued
his education at Virginia Tech, studying Computer Engineering. While an undergraduate at
Virginia Tech, Shital gained valuable industry experience with a co-op at Lockheed Martin and
multiple internships at the Aerospace Corporation. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of
Science degree in Computer Engineering in 2000.

Upon graduation, Shital continued his education at Virginia Tech by pursuing a Masters degree
in Electrical Engineering. As a graduate student, he worked in the Center for Wireless
Telecommunications as a graduate research assistant. His research included various aspects of
wireless communications, communication system design, and RF design.

Shital will have completed the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Electrical
Engineering in May 2002. Upon completion, he will join Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas as
a technical sales associate.

133